In recent years, there is growing concern for the environment pollution. Trinitrophenol (TNP), an important environmental pollutant and dangerous substance, is rarely studied for its detection. Raman spectra and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) method are used to study TNP for its Raman characteristic peaks and vibration modes. SERS spectra of TNP are studied by using gold and silver colloidal nanoparticles as SERS substrate. It is found that the gold colloidal nanoparticles are suitable SERS substrate which can significantly enhance Raman signal of TNP. However, it is ineffective to use silver colloidal nanoparticles. The experimental results show that it is basically linear relationship between the concentration of TNP sample and its SERS signal when gold colloidal nanoparticles are used as the SERS substrate. It is of great significance for further quantitative detection and identification of substances in complex systems.