Germination tests were performed on chickpeas, broad beans and green lentils, with the aim of identifying the processing conditions that allow improving germination efficiency and bioactivity profile of the germinated pulses. Germination experiments were carried out under different lighting conditions. The preliminary treatment of the soaked pulses through pulsed light of different fluency values before germination was also tested. Regardless of the investigated pulses, the dark or light regime had no significant influence on the total germination efficiency. Anyway, the light had a positive effect on the germination rate of chickpeas in the first 24 hours. A more pronounced increase of the antioxidant capacity was observed for samples germinated under dark conditions. The investigated pulses reacted differently to the pulsed light stimuli. Only in the case of lentils an increase of the percentage of germinated seeds was observed after the pulsed light treatment. Regarding the synthesis of both proteins and antioxidant compounds, the most promising results were registered for germinated broad beans after the pulsed light treatment at fluence of 43.2 J/cm2.