Abstract
Surface Raman scattering (SRS) by electron-hole pairs at metal surfaces has been analysed theoretically and experimentally. Our analysis, performed for a planar surface, predicts for the SRS intensity a broad peak at low temperatures, due to the excitation of e-h pairs by the polariton field penetrating into the metal. At high enough temperatures that peak disappears. Experiments performed for Ag-islands films, where SRS is more easily observed, show a qualitative agreement with our theoretical analysis.