We present the soft X-ray laser experiments performed at Greco "Interaction Laser-Matière" (Palaiseau). They are mainly concerned with Lithium-like ions of aluminum in plasmas produced by 1.06 µ Nd-laser. We describe the experimental set-up which performs time-dependent gain measurements. We report results showing a gain-length product of 2 - 2.5 for the 3d - 5f line at 105.7 A . Comparison is made between experiment and computational model. The possible limiting role of radiation trapping for long plasma column is discussed. We present the future projects regarding larger gains and new wavelengths.