The project was aimed at investigation of magnetic frustration effects in transition-metal (TM) and rare-earth (RE) spinels. The TM AB₂X₄ (A= Fe, Mn; B= Sc, Y; X= S, Se) family is interesting due to realization of spiral spin- and spin-orbital liquids. We extended available experimental findings on polycrystalline samples by growing and investigating single crystals. The potential of the RE AB₂X₄ (A=Cd, Zn; B=Er, Yb; X =S, Se) compounds is at the beginning of its exploration. The first experiments performed on polycrystalline CdEr₂Se₄ suggest it is the first spin ice outside the rare-earth pyrochlore series. We ăroduced single crystals of several members of the RE family and investigated them using advanced local-probe and scattering techniques.