Highly ordered dendrite Ag arrays are fabricated by using photosensitive sol-gel and electrochemical reaction self-assembly strategy to achieve large field enhancement for Surface-Enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) application. The effects of applied voltage, reaction time and KH550 have been investigated to tailor the growth of Ag dendrite. At an applied voltage of 25 V and reaction time of 30 min, orderly dendrite Ag arrays are obtained and show strong SERS effect. Meanwhile, the additive KH550 also shows a unique effect on the morphologies of Ag dendrite and contributes to increase the SERS. This kind of substrate can be used to detect R6G with the concentration of as low as 10-13M obviously. Our results suggest that the dendrite Ag arrays as SERS substrate with strong SERS effect having vast potential applications in biosensors and nanodevices with molecule-level detection. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.