Sensing performances of commercial SERS substrates

•Analysis of the capabilities and sensing performances of three commercial SERS substrates.•Comparison of the limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ) and sensitivity of the three substrates.•LOD and LOQ calculated between 1 μM and 10 μ with a range of use of only one or two orders of magnitude.•Best sensing performances reached by the Hamamatsu substrate for an excitation wavelength of 633 nm.