The effect of surface pretreatment methodologies on subsequent oxide film formation and their surface properties is reported. The influence of hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity on the attachment/detection of pathogenic bacteria to titanium chip is also investigated. The results show that the Staphylococcus aureus preferred hydrophilic surfaces and also had an affinity for the non-heat treated (control) titanium surfaces. Laser ablation resulted in significant improvement in the attachment of both pathogenic bacteria. The bacteria attached to the modified titanium chips surface were analyzed by MALDI-TOF MS. Thus, this study demonstrates that modifying the surface by various surfaces pretreatment such as heat treatments and laser ablation could lead to selective capture of either Pseudomonas aeruginosa or Staphylococcus aureus by the titanium chips. This study is for direct and effective detection of pathogenic bacteria using MALDI-TOF MS. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.