Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) technology has revealed considerably potential application in the field of life science due to its ultrasensitive detectability and non-destructivity, which is considered as a powerful tool for detection of nucleic acid. The article reviews recent advances in SERS-based detection of nucleic acids, including labeled and label-free detections as well as other methods. The principles and detection strategies of these different methods are introduced, especially the labeled detection using SERS tags via sandwich structure and hairpin structure. We also made a detailed explanation of the basic structure of SERS tags and their recent developments. By analyzing the detection strategies and summarizing recent achievements, some issues related to SERS-based nucleic acid detection techniques are also discussed.

Contents
1 Introduction
2 Principle of SERS enhancement
3 Nucleic acid detection based on SERS
3.1 Label-free detection
3.2 Labeled detection
3.3 SERS-based other methods
4 Conclusion and outlook