Which ways can light interact with matter

When a photon "collide" with an atom, then the photon's energy is transfered at one electron. The electron gets stimulated and temporarily switches to an other higher energy state (goes to another sublayer).
After that, the electron returns to it's initial energy state (either at once or by firstly switching to intermediate energy states). That causes the creation of one or more photons (depending on the number of steps the electron did to return to its initial condition). The extra energy of the electron is shared (not equally) to the photons.