In low-light/nighttime situations it will depend on the layout of your house and your preferred tactics for dealing with an intruder.
I used to have 3 cats, including a black one that disappeared if she slept in the hallway. Nothing like stepping on an invisible cat at 3:28am to make you wet yourself!
(not to mention the need for antiseptic afterwards!)
In response to this (and that fact that the big male used to sleep in the front bath's sink bowl) I put nightlights in several places around the house. At night, they provide enough light to allow me to see anyone moving around or lurking. At least one of them will throw a shadow towards the hallway as a warning too.
If you have a 2-story house, using nightlights on the lower floor near the stairwell will illuminate anyone in the stairs or moving around near them (by shadows).
Keep in mind that
a nighttime intruder has the advantage of night vision and adrenaline. He's already acclimated to the dark and adrenaline helps with his night vision. You, on the other hand, waking up from a sleep will NOT have your night vision fully ramped up for up to 30 seconds or more. In addition, unless you hear a positive sound that someone is in the house, you may be tired enough that your eyes aren't fully open. Older (50+) folks may have "sleep" in their eyes causing blurry vision too.
Light colored walls in your house will help show a silhoutte, especially if you have a light source somewhere inside the home. Mirrors or mirrored tiles strategically placed where you can see them from the hallway and inspect other parts of the house may be effective.
If you like the devices, those X-10 remote control units which allow you to turn on lights using household wiring as a comm-circuit can be effective too. Turning on the downstairs lighting (or kitchen/livingroom) may cause the intruder to flee or hide. At the very least, you can screw up
his night vision while yours remains.