To combine the surface plasma resonance of metal and local field enhancement in metal/semiconductor interface, Ag nanoparticles (NPs) were assembled on a ZnO nanorod array which was grown by hydrothermally on carbon fibers. The construction of dimensional (3D) Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) substrate is used for the sensitive detection of organic pollutants with the advantages such as facile synthesis, short detection time and low cost. The hybrid substrate was manifested a high sensitivity to phenol red at a lower concentration of 1 x 10(-9) M and a higher enhancement factor of 3.18 x 10(9). Moreover, the ZnO nanostructures decorated with Ag NPs were demonstrated self-cleaning function under UV irradiation via photocatalytic degradation of the analytic molecules. The fabrication process of the materials and sensors, optimization of the SERS behaviors for different sized Ag NPs, the mechanism of SERS and recovery were presented with a detailed discussion. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.