Surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) has been exploited widely for sensitive molecular characterization and has been used extensively as a signal transduction mechanism in biological and chemical sensing. However, little application has been explored in analyzing lipids, e.g. edible oils. In this study, we evaluated the SERS method coupled with silver (Ag) dendrites on the enhancement ability and analytical capacity of measuring canola oil and α-tocopherol. The feasibility of using this SERS method to analyze the oxidation process of canola oil was also investigated. Our results showed improved sensitivity when analyzing diluted canola oil and α-tocopherol using SERS, and the potential of analyzing these two components simultaneously in a mixture. Significant changes of SERS spectra were observed between the original canola oil and the oil incubated at 55 °C for 5 days by principal component analysis (PCA). Compared with conventional Raman measurement and UV absorbance measurement of conjugated diene, this SERS method was more sensitive to detect changes in lipid molecules during the oxidation process. This data suggests a great potential of using SERS for sensitive measurement of lipids and detection of lipid oxidation.