Imaging of topography and locally induced photoluminescence of anodically etched porous silicon is performed using a force regulated near field scanning optical microscope. The photoluminescence signal on as‐prepared wafers shows strong evidence for inherent, rather than purely geometrically induced, variations. Images of small particles display distributions of regions of relatively strong luminescence on the 100 nm lateral scale. Highly localized photoluminescence spectra obtained on these particles show spectral shifts as high as 50 nm compared with those obtained on as‐prepared porous silicon wafer. ©1995 American Institute of Physics.