Gold nanoparticles(NPs) of various shapes were synthesized by a one-step method at ambient temperature in the presence of NaCI.2-mercaptosuccinic acid(MSA) was used as both reducing agent and stabilizing agent.The shapes of gold NPs were controllable by simply tuning S/Au ratio(S is from MSA molecule,and S/Au ratio is controlled by tuning the volume of added MSA solution),and triangle,polygonal and spherical nanoparticles were obtained.This result suggested a new way to consider the effects of MSA on the growth of nanoparticles,which showed that MSA is a strong capping agent and facilitates more uniform growth of nanoparticles in every dimension.And other important factors on nanoparticles growth including NaCI and temperature were discussed.Furthermore,a typical probe molecule,4-aminothiophenol(4-ATP) was used to test the surface-enhanced Raman scattering(SERS) activity of these gold NPs and the results indicated good Raman activity on these substrates.And the enhancement factor(EF) at 1078 cm~(-1)(a_1) was estimated to be as large as 6.3×10~4 and 5.5×10~4 for triangular plates and truncated particles,respectively. Gold nanoparticles (NPs) of various shapes were synthesized by a one-step method at ambient temperature in the presence of NaCl. 2-mercaptosuccinic acid (MSA) was used as both reducing agent and stabilizing agent. These shapes of gold NPs were controllable by simply tuning S / Au ratio (S is from MSA molecule, and S / Au ratio is controlled by tuning the volume of added MSA solution), and triangle, polygonal and spherical nanoparticles were obtained. This result suggests a new way to consider the effects of MSA on the growth of nanoparticles, which showed that MSA is a strong capping agent and facilitates more uniform growth of nanoparticles in every dimension. And other important factors on nanoparticles growth including NaCI and temperature were discussed. Future plus, a typical probe molecule, 4 -aminothiophenol (4-ATP) was used to test the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) activity of these gold NPs and the results showed good Raman activity on these substrates. And the enhancement factor (EF) a t 1078 cm -1 (a_1) was estimated to be as large as 6.3 × 10-4 and 5.5 × 10-4 for triangular plates and truncated particles, respectively.