Hello.
If I have understood you correctly, you need to show attributes in layered navigation (column left filter at front-end of Magento).
First of all, not all attributes can be shown in layered navigation - only drop-down, multiselect and price type.
You need to set up the following settings:
- in attribute settings you should set 'Use in Layered Navigation' - Filterable with results
- use in search results layered navigation set to - Yes
- it is also needed to set Category products belong to - Is Anchor to Yes