Recently it has been recognized that germanium (Ge) doping can be used for microelectronics and photovoltaic devices. This article reviews the recent results about the effects of Ge doping on boron-related defects in crystalline silicon. Behavior of Ge interacting with the acceptor dopants is also discussed therein. In addition, the article provides a comprehensive review on the effect of Ge doping to the formation of iron-boron pairs and boron-oxygen defects that is responsible for the light induced degradation (LID) of the carrier lifetime. The improvement silicon-based solar cells application from Ge doping is discussed as well, including the increment of cell efficiency and the power output of corresponding modules under sunlight illumination. (C) 2014 Elsevier By. All rights reserved.