Polycrystalline alpha-MnSe samples are investigated by Raman and photoluminescence spectroscopy. We assigned the first and the second order phonons in Raman spectra by a help of rigid ion model calculations. Several modes connected with spin system, whose width and frequencies depend on temperature, are assigned, too. Photoluminescence in alpha-MnSe shows a step-like shift of emission bands below T-N, in correlation with the antiferromagnetic spin-ordering in this material.