Fundamentals of the kinematical quantum theory of inelastic light scattering from electronic excitations in conducting crystals are reviewed. Keeping both the →Δ and →p·→A terms in the photon-electron interaction the general expression for the differential scattering cross-section is obtained. Emphasizing opacity effects and anisotropies arising from the Doppler shift the scattering kinematics is analyzed. The scattering from free-carrier density fluctuations is considered briefly. The basic concepts of a recently established phenomenological theory of dynamical light diffraction in opaque crystals are discussed, and some aspects of a predicted phonon induced anomalous transmission of light below the plasma edge in semiconductors are studied.