Silver nano-shells (SNSs) were synthesized via a two-step seeds-mediated method. Polymer cores were composed of ultrafine gold nanoparticles (NPs) modified chitosan-poly(acrylic acid) nanoparticles (CS-PAA NPs). Then, deposition of silver upon gold nucleus leads to the seed enlargement and finally forms silver shell on the surface of CS-PAA NPs to get SNSs. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) showed SNSs had a discrete silver shell plus some pores and gaps, which could acted as "hot spots" and provided the great potential of these SNSs to be used as SERS substrates with wavelength ranging from visible to infrared region (700-1000 nm) by tuning shell coverage of silver. SERS experiments with dibenzyl disulphide (DBDS) as the indicator showed that the resulting SNSs allowed the production of highly consistent enhancement of the Raman signals down to nM concentrations of DBDS. Considering the excellent biocompatibility of polymer core and their small size, these SNSs are highly desirable candidates as the enhancers for high performance SERS analysis and as SERS optical labels in biomedical imaging. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.