Enhancement of the light emission of CdSe quantum dots was observed by coupling through localized surface plasmons from Au nanoparticles. The enhancement was found to be relative to the shapes and sizes of Au nanoparticles. Au nanoparticles of different sizes were synthesized by a citrate-seeded method. By varying the annealing temperature, worm-like Au nanoparticles of different aspect ratios from 1 to 5 were obtained. Samples of the CdSe coupled with Au with an aspect ratio of 2 and annealed at 500 degrees C exhibited the best photoluminescence emission efficiency. Furthermore, a stronger photoluminescence enhancement was observed with increasing the size of Au nanoparticles. It was also found that when the localized surface plasmons resonance absorption wavelength of Au nanopartiles was just a little smaller than the emission peak of CdSe, the CdSe quantum dots exhibited the strongest photoluminescence intensity, with an enhancement of 6 times. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.