Amorphous alumina is deposited on chemically etched nanoporous gold films using atomic layer deposition at room temperature. Nanoporous gold with ultra. ne pores of 7 nm in diameter is uniformly coated with alumina film as thin as 1.4 nm. Localized surface plasmon resonance of gold skeleton exhibits a detectable red-shift in the optical transmittance spectra, the magnitude of which depends on the thickness of the alumina layer. The tunable optical properties of nanoporous gold-alumina composites provide one possibility for implementing miniaturized optical devices with high performances. (c) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.