Future development of X-ray lasers (XRL) applications goes through a reduction of the driver energy. Amplification close or inside the @'water window@' using the Li-like recombination scheme was tested. A gain of ∼ 0.8 cm - 1 at 5.77 nm (Ca 1 7 + ) was measured. On the other hand, at LULI the use of low energy prepulse has permitted to achieve a very efficient saturated X-ray laser working on the 0-1 line (21.2 nm) on the Ne-like collisional scheme. The 5 MW, 200 μm transverse coherence length XRL extremely well suited for applications.