In this study, we report the simple fabrication of an active substrate assisted by gold nanostructures (AuNS) for application in surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) using copier paper, which is a biodegradable and cost-effective material. As cellulose is the main component of paper, it can behave as a reducing agent and as a capping molecule for the synthesis of AuNS on the paper substrate. AuNS can be directly generated on the surface of the copier paper by addition of halides. The AuNS thus synthesized were characterized by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, SEM, XRD, and XPS. In addition, the SERS effect of the AuNS-paper substrates synthesized by using various halides was investigated by using rhodamine (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.