The relatively well-known mirror reaction method of forming silver films has been used to produce substrates for surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). The simple and convenient method produces a thin metal film on silicon that shows an order of magnitude superior surface enhancement properties when compared to a conventional SERS substrate made by vacuum evaporation. Of particular interest is that the method is ideal for coating atomic force microscope probes for apertureless scanning near-field spectroscopy which is usually made difficult by the damage caused by evaporative coating and annealing.