While many recently published reviews have covered non-invasive nuclear imaging techniques, the aim of this review is to focus on current developments in optical imaging technologies for investigating the pancreas. Several of these modalities are being developed into non-invasive, real-time monitoring routines for pancreatic diseases. However, they also provide pre-clinical ex vivo and/or intravital tools for three-dimensional quantitative assessments of cellular and molecular events, with levels of specificity and resolution difficult to achieve with other currently available modalities.