By immersing mica modified with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) into the silver colloid, a high efficient surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) active substrate was formed within 2 h at room temperature. The limit of detection of the substrate for Rhodamine 6G is up to 1 x 10(-14) M. Changing the concentration of silver colloid and the treating time, various silver aggregates such as nanocrystals, clusters and films were found, and the SERS spectra of these aggregates were also obtained. The results of SERS revealed that CTAB could accelerate aggregation of the silver colloid and cause great Raman enhancement. Bilayer of CTAB is very important for aggregation of silver colloid and the aggregation extent is the main factor for the enormous enhancement on this substrate. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.