In the past, many detection principles have been developed to trace narrow zones separated via capillary electrophoresis (CE) with various sensitivity and selectivity. While some of them have become mature technologies that are routinely used coupled online with CE, other ones will require further intensive investigation. This is the case of Raman spectroscopy and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) which operate with inelastically scattered photons. The enormously rich chemical and structural infor-mation encoded in Raman spectra continuously attracts the attention of researchers striving to develop a robust and reliable coupling of CE and Raman/SERS. In this paper, we provide a systematic overview of the achievements attained in this field with a special focus on the practical aspects that present chal-lenges to CE-Raman/SERS coupling. We also discuss possible future development in this field.(c) 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.