A low-cost and controllable fabrication method of flower-like Au arrays has been developed by using photosensitive sol-gel and electrochemical reaction self-assembly strategy on a TiO2 patterned Si substrate. The effects of concentration of HAuCl4 solution and applied voltage have been investigated to tailor the growth of Au nanoflowers. At a proper applied voltage (12 V) and concentration (0.005 mM), fractal flower-like Au arrays is prepared and shows strong SERS effect. The concentration of detectable Rhodamine 6G can be down to 10(-10) M using the short data integration time (5 s). These flower-like Au arrays with strong SERS effect could be used in biosensors and nanodevices with molecule-level detection. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.