An efficient surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate is developed based on silver nanoparticles decorated anodic aluminum oxide (Ag/AAO). The AAO templates were fabricated using a two-step anodization approach, and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were obtained by thermal decomposition of Ag nitrate in AAO. The structure of Ag/AAO hybrid substrate is characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results show that the as-prepared SERS substrates consist of high-density AgNPs with sizes of tens of nanometers. The AgNPs are adsorbed on the surface of AAO template in the form of network structure which is called "hot spot". The SERS enhancement ability of the nanostructure is verified using thiram as probing molecules. The limit of detection is as low as 1×10 -9 mol/L. The results indicate that the as-prepared substrate possesses excellent SERS sensitivity, high stability and uniformity enhancement.Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) has attracted more and more attention due to its high sensitivity and the ability to provide fingerprint information of the target molecules. Particularly, it has shown outstanding sensitivity in detecting trace of analytes, sometimes even up to single molecule detection level [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] . However, this technique has not been widely used in practical applications. One major problem is lack of SERS substrates with high stability and sensitivity which can generate reproducible SERS spectra. Therefore, for obtaining an ideal SERS enhancement as well as high sensitivity, high stability and uniformity should be both taken into account. The template synthesis method has been shown to be a selectable approach for fabricating SERS substrates. The anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membrane with satisfactory physical stability and chemical inertia has attracted a great deal of interest as templates in the preparation of various nanostructures, such as nanotubes, nanowires, nanorods and nanoparticles [8,9] . In this paper, we develop an easy and inexpensive method to fabricate high-density silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) decorated AAO (Ag/AAO). A lot of "hot spot" structures are obtained with uniform distribution due to AgNPs loaded on AAO in the form of network structure.High purity aluminum was obtained from Beijing Iron and Steel Institute. Silver nitrate and thiram were purchased from J&K, Co., Ltd. Oxalic acid, phosphoric acid, chromium trioxide and sulfuric acid were purchased from Beijing Chemical Reagent Company. All the reagents except aluminum were used as received without further purification. All aqueous solutions were prepared using deionized water. Porous AAO template was prepared by a two-step anodization method. Briefly, the aluminum foil was first rinsed with acetone in an ultrasonic bath for 10 min. In electropolishing, the aluminum was immersed in a mixed solution of sulfuric acid (mass percent of 20%), phosphoric acid (mass percent of 80%) and chromium trioxide (mass percent of 2%), and used as the anode at 9 V and 90 °C for 10 min. Then the foil was ano...