The reason you don't see things clearly at night due to the photoreceptors in the retina of your eye.
You have two types of photoreceptors in your eyes - cones and rods. Cones allow us to see colors and work in bright lighting. Rods see black and white and work mostly in dim or dark lighting. SO, when you are in a completely dark room and you've become dark adapted, your cones are not being stimulated from bright lights and are not sending visual signals to your brain. Your rods take over and you can somewhat make out objects, shapes, and whatnot in VERY dim lighting.