You don't have to try hard. Just use it as a photodiode and it magically works. However, if it's inside a plastic case that blocks light, it doesn't.
Due to some law about entropy, efficient processes are necessarily reversible. That's why electric motors - some of the most efficient machines ever invented - are also generators.
All diodes are photodiodes, one has to be esp careful of glass encapsulated diodes. I have had that bite me before.
> However, if it's inside a plastic case that blocks light, it doesn't.
You want an ordinary diode to allow current to flow easily when it senses light? Simple: shine a powerful laser at the plastic-encased diode and it will melt the plastic and liquify the metal, fusing it together and allowing current to flow again. See? You just needed to try harder.