Abstract
Since the discovery of the phenomenon of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), it has gradually become an important tool for the analysis of material compositions and structures. The applications of SERS have been expanded from the fields of environmental and materials science to biomedicine due to the extremely high sensitivity and non-destructiveness of SERS-based analytical technology that even allows single-molecule detection. This article provides a comprehensive overview of the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) phenomenon. The content is divided into several main sections: basic principles and the significance of Raman spectroscopy; historical advancements and technological progress in SERS; and various practical applications across different fields. We also discuss how electromagnetic fields contribute to the SERS effect, the role of chemical interactions in enhancing Raman signals, a modeling and computational approaches to understand and predict SERS effects.