Raman scattering can provide information on the molecular structure of specific analyte molecules. However, it is inherently a weak effect and although used for distance detection, it requires very powerful lasers and is limited in its application. Raman scattering can be enhanced either using resonance, or by surface enhancement. In resonance enhancement the laser frequency is tuned to an energy transition of the analyte, in surface enhancement the analyte is absorbed onto a suitably roughened metal surface so that there is interaction between the metal and the surface plasmon. When these two forms of enhancement are combined, by absorbing a dye onto the roughened metal surface, surface enhanced resonance Raman scattering (SERRS) is obtained. This has a sensitivity to rival fluorescence and it has been shown that it is possible to detect single molecules_. A dye specifically designed for SERRS detection, [4(5’-azobenzotriazole-3,5-dimethoxyphenylamine)] was absorbed onto silver particles and the particles dispersed in varnish and other similar matrices to produce thin film stable targets. Raman maps of a number of these films indicated that cases using an ultrasound bath during the sample preparation produced a more even distribution of signal strength across the samples. Initial experiments with a standard microprobe Raman system 100, gave good SERRS signals to a distance of 1metre from the probe head. The advantages of distance detection by SERRS are that sharp molecularly specific signals are obtained and consequently a number of different dyes can be discriminated without separation. Also a much wider range of chromophores can be used since both fluorophores and non-fluorophores are effective and sharp molecularly specific patterns of signals are obtained from each dye. This means that there is a much greater information content that can be obtained from dye mixtures.