Polaronic effect is important in the current researches on quantum dots (QD). This paper reported a new concept of the “confined polaron”, their size dependent formation possibilities and energy variation in different QD systems, with an indication of contribution from both intrinsic and/or extrinsic phonons. To understand the spectroscopic characteristics of porous silicon (PS), we find that luminescence behavior of oxidized porous silicon is in good agreement with the model of interfacial confined polaron in QDs. This conclusion is useful to unveiling the mechanmism of PS luminescence.