[en] The main focus of this work is on 2 spectroscopic techniques which enable the researcher to obtain information detailing the crystal structure of an actinide compound. This review presents useful cataloging of phonon Raman spectral data for selected binary actinide compounds. Included are the results from the literature with regard to both powder and single crystal data for various actinide oxides and halides. Where relevant data on the actinide compounds were unavailable , data has been included for actinide-related compounds, primarily lanthanide compounds. Another useful spectroscopic probe of crystal structure of an actinide compound is solid-state spectrophotometry. The electronic configurations of the actinide ions give rise to Laporte-forbidden f-f electronic transitions. These 5f electrons, although shielded, are affected by the crystal field about the actinide ion. In the case of a well-defined crystal, this effect is repeated over a long range. The selection rules which give rise to the intensities of these electronic f-f transitions are governed by the crystal symmetry. It has been found that the observed room-temperature absorption spectra of various trivalent actinide ions in different host matrices exhibiting the same crystal structure are reproducible and are, therefore, very dependent on the crystal structure. (author). 57 refs.; 21 figs.; 26 tabs