Hi!
I have this setting in my .emacs. Highlights the line point is in.
These colors are nice for a black background imo.
For a nice color for a light background, ask google ;)
;;;;;;;;;;;;;; Misc Settings
;;
;; Line containing point is decently highlighted
(global-hl-line-mode 1)
(set-face-background 'hl-line "#330")
;; other nice background colors: #222, #111
memnon
P.S.: This setting turns highlighting on all the time.
But this setting is very unobtrusive imo
(for a black background and under X!)