  We investigate hadrons and direct photon production in pp and pA collisions
at the energies of RHIC and LHC within the color-dipole approach employing
various saturation models. We show that greatest sensitivity to saturation
effects is reached at very forward rapidities for pp collisions at LHC
(\sqrt{s}=14 TeV). The ratio of direct-photon to pion production can be about
20-10 (at \eta=7-8). Therefore, direct photon production at forward rapidities
should provide a rather clean probe. We calculate the rapidity dependence of
the invariant cross-section and find some peculiar enhancement at forward
rapidities which is more pronounced for direct photon production. We show that
this peak is further enhanced by saturation effects. We provide predictions for
the nuclear modification factor R_{pA} for pions and direct photon production
in pA collisions at LHC energy at midrapidity. We show within various
saturation models that the pion Cronin enhancement at RHIC is replaced by a
moderate suppression at LHC energy at midrapidity due to gluon shadowing
effects. Cronin enhancement of direct photons can survive at LHC energy within
models with a larger saturation scale.
