Surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) properties of silver electrodes and periodical silver nanowire arrays were studied and compared. The silver electrode was fabricated by applying oxidization reduction cycle (ORC) voltage on a high purity (99.999%) silver sheet in 0.2 M KCl solution and the periodical nanowire arrays were fabricated by assembling silver nanowire into the anodic alumina membrane (AAM) using electrochemical deposition. The AAM was then partly removed to make nanowire tips emerge for detection. Raman spectra of 10(-6) M, 10(-9) M and 10(-12) M Rhodamine 6G (R6G) aqueous solutions were measured separately from each sample with a 514.5 nm air-cooled argon ion laser source. The results show that periodical nanowire arrays have a more obvious SERS property than that of the ORC roughened silver electrodes. As-fabricated nanowire arrays have great potential in organic chemical detection, such as R6G, via measuring SERS spectrum of organic chemicals. (C) 2009 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.