Cubic silicon carbide (3C-SiC) with the energy band gap 2.36 eV (T=300K) possess relatively high electron mobility and appears as promising material for applications in high power and temperature electronics and devices for harsh environment. We review optical techniques able to investigate the optical and photoelectrical properties of SiC at high injection levels. The excess carriers were injected by a short laser pulse and monitored by timeresolved free-carrier absorption (FCA) and light-induced transient grating (LITG) techniques. We also investigated spectra of room-temperature photoluminecense (RTPL), as a complementary technique to reveal defect-related properties. We note that latter technique up to now was mainly used to study low-temperature photoluminescence spectra of SiC.