Colloidal dispersions of silver and gold nanoparticles were obtained in pure water by ablation with nanosecond pulsed laser. Then, by filtration of the metal particles on alumina, we fabricated nanostructured films, whose surface morphology was examined by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and related to surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) after adsorption of adenine. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.