The present work demonstrates the superhydrophobic and Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) active substrate performance of silver coated copper oxide (Ag@CuO) nanostructured thin films prepared by the SILAR process. Super hydrophobic substrates that combine super hydrophobic condensation effect and high enhancement ability of Ag@CuO nanoflowers are investigated for SERS studies. The possible growth mechanism for the formation of nanoflower arrays from nanospindles has been discussed. Morphology and crystallinity of the Ag@CuO thin films are confirmed using FESEM and XRD. The results obtained in the present study indicate that the as-deposited hydrophobic nanospindles structure converts to super hydrophobic nanoflower arrays on annealing at 200 degrees C. The Ag@CuO super hydrophobic nanoflowers thin film based SERS substrates show highly enhanced Raman spectra with an EF value of 2.0 x 10(7) for (Rhodamine 6G) R6G, allowing a detection limit from a 10(-10) mol L-1 solution. The present study may provide a new perception in fabricating efficient super hydrophobic substrates for SERS, suggesting that the fabricated substrates are promising candidates for trace analysis of R6G dye and are expected to be widely used as highly sensitive SERS active substrates for various toxic dyes in the future. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.