A review on ceramics, glasses and glass–ceramics as thin film protective coatings for solar cells is given. The different preparation techniques and the physical and chemical properties are presented in a comparative way. This study is useful for technologies involving solar cells and solar panel cell development at the industrial scale, because protective coatings and encapsulation play a major role in increasing the lifetime of solar panels and environmental protection. The aim of this review article is to give a summary of existing ceramic, glass, and glass–ceramic protective coatings and how they apply to solar cell technology: silicon, organic or perovskite cells. Moreover, some of these ceramic, glass or glass–ceramic layers were found to have dual functionality, such as providing anti-reflectivity or scratch resistance to give a two-fold improvement to the lifetime and efficiency of the solar cell.