Measurement and interpretation of the excitation wavelength dependence of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectra of molecules chemisorbed on plasmonic, e.g. Ag nanoparticle (NP) surfaces, are of principal importance for revealing the charge transfer (CT) mechanism contribution to the overall SERS enhancement. SERS spectra, their excitation wavelength dependence in the 445-780-nm range and factor analysis (FA) were used for the identification of two Ag-2,2′:6′,2″-terpyridine (tpy) surface species, denoted Ag + -tpy and Ag(0)-tpy, on Ag NPs in systems with unmodified and/or purposefully modified Ag NPs originating from hydroxylamine hydrochloride-reduced hydrosols. Ag + -tpy is a spectral analogue of [Ag(tpy)] + complex cation, and its SERS shows virtually no excitation wavelength dependence. By contrast, SERS of Ag(0)-tpy surface complex generated upon chlorideinduced compact aggregate formation and/or in strongly reducing ambient shows a pronounced excitation wavelength dependence attributed to a CT resonance (the chemical mechanism) contribution to the overall SERS enhancement. Both the resonance (λ exc = 532 nm) and off-resonance (λ exc = 780 nm) pure-component spectra of Ag(0)-tpy obtained by FA are largely similar to surface-enhanced resonance Raman scattering (λ exc = 532 nm in resonance with singlet metal to ligand CT ( 1 MLCT) transition) and SERS (λ exc = 780 nm) spectra of [Fe(tpy) 2 ] 2+ complex dication.