Biogenic sulfur compounds such as dimethyl sulfide (DMS) are important contributors to the global carbon cycle. The differential Raman cross section of DMS relative to the nitrogen fundamental, σ DMS , has been measured at several excitation wavelengths in order to assess the applicability of Raman spectroscopy for the direct quantitative measurement of this compound. At 488 nm, σ DMS for the ν 6 carbon-sulfur stretching mode was found to be 4.9 ± 1.6, while for the ν 2 carbon-hydrogen stretching mode it was 2.8 ± 0.9. Using, KrF laser excitation, values for σ DMS could be measured simultaneously at two excitation wavelengths, 248.32 and 248.69 nm. The average values of σ DMS for 248-nm excitation based on measurements at these two excitation wavelengths were 3.5 ± 1.4 for the carbon-sulfur stretching mode and 4.6 ± 0.6 for the carbon-hydrogen stretching mode. The results indicate that no significant resonance enhancement of σ DMS for either mode occurs, although they show some slight enhancement of the cross section for the ν 2 band (C-H stretching mode). It was concluded that the measured values of σ DMS are high enough to allow the quantitative detection of DMS at the millimolar level.