Astronomical spectropolarimetry is performed from the X-ray to the radio regimes of the electromagnetic spectrum. The following chapter deals with instruments and their components that are used in the wavelength range from 300 nm to 20 μm. After introducing the terminology and formalisms that are used in the context of astronomical spectropolarimeters, I discuss the most widely used optical components. These include crystal and sheet polarizers, fixed monochromatic and achromatic retarders, and variable retarders such as liquid crystals and photoelastic modulators. Since polarimetric measurements are often limited by systematic errors rather than statistical errors due to photon noise, I deal with these instrumentally induced errors in detail. Among these errors, I discuss instrumental polarization of various kinds and chromatic and angle of incidence errors of optical components. I close with a few examples of successful, modern night-time and solar spectropolarimeter.