Direct electrochemical shaping of metal surfaces into micro/nano-structures with desired functions is interesting and attractive. In this work, we employed square wave potential pulses (SWPP) to shape a smooth Cu surface into micro/nano-structures efficiently in a blank H2SO4 solution. Delightedly, we obtained Cu sub-micrometric islands on the surface with very strong surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) effect in 5s, and fabricated a coral-like micro/nano-structured copper film with superhydrophobicity in 40 s. This method is green, facile, fast, and easy to control. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.