In order to use highlights w/ Sunspot

controller.rb

# in the controller (or wherever you perform the search), enable highlights

@search = Sunspot.search(Model) do
  keyword 'foo', :highlights => true
end

# or
@search = Sunspot.search(Model) do
  keyword 'foo', :highlights => :name
end

# or
@search = Sunspot.search(Model) do
  keyword 'foo' do
    highlight :name
  end
end

p r.hits.first.highlights
#=> [#<Sunspot::Search::Highlight:0x4422774 @highlight="@@@hl@@@Foo@@@endhl@@@ Bar", @field_name=:name>]

p r.hits.first.highlight(:name)
#=> #<Sunspot::Search::Highlight:0x4422774 @highlight="@@@hl@@@Foo@@@endhl@@@ Bar", @field_name=:name>

p r.hits.first.highlight(:name).format{ |word| "<strong>#{word}</strong>" }
#=> "<strong>Foo</strong> Bar"

model.rb

# In your model, define text fields with ":stored => true":

class Model < < ActiveRecord::Base
  searchable do
   text :name, :stored => true
  end
end