This investigation focused on the characterization of the lateral dose fall-off following the irradiation of the target with photons, protons and carbon ions. A water phantom was irradiated with a rectangular field using photons, passively delivered protons as well as scanned protons and carbon ions. The lateral dose profile in the depth of the maximum dose was measured using an ion chamber, a diamond detector and thermoluminescence detectors TLD-600 and TLD-700. The yield of thermal neutrons was estimated for all radiation types while their complete spectrum was measured with bubble detectors during the irradiation with photons. The peripheral dose delivered by photons is significantly higher compared to both protons and carbon ions and exceeds the latter by up to two orders of magnitude at distances greater than 50 mm from the field. The comparison of passive and active delivery techniques for protons shows that, for the chosen rectangular target shape, the former has a sharper penumbra whereas the latter has a lower dose in the far-out-of-field region. When comparing scanning treatments, carbon ions present a sharper dose fall-off than protons close to the target but increasing peripheral dose with increasing incident energy. For photon irradiation, the contribution to the out-of-field dose of photoneutrons appears to be of the same order of magnitude as the scattered primary beam. Charged particles show a clear supremacy over x-rays in achieving a higher dose conformality around the target and in sparing the healthy tissue from unnecessary radiation exposure. The out-of-field dose for x-rays increases with increasing beam energy because of the production of biologically harmful neutrons.