A simple method was developed to metallize silicon nanowires using an elec-troless displacement deposition reaction. The resulting metal nanoparticles were self-assembled along a nanowire core to get a metal covering. The silver nanoparti-cles array aggregated along the nanowire was used as a SERS substrate. The en-hancement for SERS response was high even from a single metallized nanowire. The significantly high enhancement came from the close interdistance among the neighbouring nanoparticles aggregated along nanowire by self-assembly. © 2008 CBMS.