Silver, titanium, nickel, and aluminum nanowire arrays with diameters from 90 to 110 nm were prepared on AAO templates by laser molecular beam epitaxy. On the several kinds of nanowire arrays, high-quality surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectra of probe molecules of the red dye Sudan II (C18H16N2O) were obtained. In particular, the SERS spectrum of Sudan II on an aluminum nanowire array is reported for the first time. (c) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.