In order to improve the quality of optical devices, of the coating in particular, the development of advanced thin film deposition techniques is in progress. The ion beam assistance (IAD) during the deposition process appears a very promising technique to realize optical coating with the desired optical and mechanical properties. In fact, these strictly correlated properties depending on deposition parameters determine the performance device. Film microstructure is responsible of mechanical stability of the film itself and of refractive index and absorption coefficient values as well. In this paper, the principal concepts about sputtering phenomenon and some models to describe it are reported. Deposition techniques supported by the presence of energetic ions are described and the influence of ion assistance on the coating properties is especially investigated. Some materials generally utilized in optical coatings are presented to show the obtained results and the advantages offered by the ion assistance in optical coating deposition processes