Silicon, the second most abundant element on earth, plays a key role in modern opto-electronics. Nonetheless, compared to other semiconductor materials, the optical absorption coefficient of silicon is rather weak, a property that has stifled the development of more efficient devices, including photovoltaics. Some of these limitations can be overcome at the nanoscale, where the interaction between light and matter in the near zone can be notably different compared to far-field light-matter interactions. In this presentation, we will highlight three unusual near-field optical phenomena of silicon, including a dramatic enhancement of linear absorption enabled by confined light, an extraordinary efficient nonlinear absorption at nanostructured Si surfaces, and the ability of nanostructured silicon to boost coherent Raman scattering of molecular targets.