We have investigated the polarization dependence of subband absorption and photoconductivity in Si/SiGe quantum wells. For samples with a hole concentration ofps=2.8×1012cm−2both transverse magnetic and transverse electric polarized absorptions have been observed, and transitions to several excited states are clearly identified by comparison with self‐consistent Luttinger–Kohn type calculations. The photoconductivity is surprisingly little sensitive to the polarization, which indicates the importance of the subsequent transport process on the photocurrent responsivity. ©1996 American Institute of Physics.