The surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) of a series of sulfur oxoanions on a dry electrochemically roughened silver surface are reported. Spectra were recorded on an FT-Raman instrument using near IR excitation. The behavior of the anions falls into two categories. Sulfate and dithionate physisorb to the surface, give weak SER spectra that show few changes from the normal Raman spectrum. Sulfite and thiosulfate chemisorb to the surface, show large enhancement factors with significant changes to the spectrum. In particular, the similarity of the SER spectrum of the sulfite ion to the normal Raman spectrum of solid Ag 2SO 3 suggests that a layer of Ag 2SO 3 forms on the silver surface. For the chemisorbed anions, the method shows promise as an analytical technique with a limit of detection from solution of around 10 −4 M.