In the past few years the incorporation of Si nanocrystals in Er doped silica was found to strongly enhance the infrared luminescence of Er3+ at 1.54 μm as a consequence of an energy transfer process. This has important implications in the optoelectronic field, in particular for the realization of planar waveguide optical amplifiers. To this respect, multi-component glasses can offer better performances than silica in terms of Er solubility and band broadness. In this work we investigate the energy transfer mechanism in different glass hosts: common silica (S), aluminosilicate (L) glass and soda-lime (H) glass. Si and Er have been co-implanted in the substrates and post implantation thermal treatments have been performed to promote Si aggregation. The most intense Er3+ PL emission at 1.54 μm was achieved after a thermal treatment at 400 °C for the L substrate and at 600 °C for the H substrate. Such emission was …