Local and bulk deposition of gold particles was accomplished by the spontaneous reaction between chemically reduced polyaniline (PAN) thin films and AuCl4- ions. PAN layers were electrodeposited on glassy carbon (GC). Characterization of the PAN films was carried out by microscopy and electrochemistry. Local deposition of gold particles was performed by means of scanning electrochemical microscopy, where a gold microelectrode was used to produce a flux of gold ions in close vicinity to an unbiased PAN film. We found that the nature of the gold particles was greatly affected by the potential applied at the microelectrode as well as the oxidation state of the PAN films. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.