The surface Raman study of the electrode potential effect on the adsorption behavior of cyanide on the Pt surface was performed on a confocal microprobe Raman system with the help of a special surface pretreatment for the platinum electrode. The abrupt change of the dependence of the CN- stretching vibration on the potential at ca. -0.6 V indicates a subtle orientation change of the adsorbed CN. This is supported by the changes of the Pt-C vibration located at ca. 400 cm(-1). A detailed discussion is given on the potential dependent adsorption behavior and the frequency shift of the major vibrational bands.