Modern histochemical techniques allow the specific detection of tissue constituents in situ. Routinely formalin fixed, paraffin embedded tissues may present problems to the pathologist since destruction of substances can lead to false negative results. Immunogold-silver staining (IGSS) can be a way to overcome some of these problems. A highly efficient method allows silver enhancement to be carried out without the necessity of a dark box (silver acetate autometallography). To test the new modification, antisera to a variety of antigens were used on paraffin and semithin resin sections. The system was also tested for its applicability in multiple immunostaining techniques and for the in situ hybridisation of viral DNA and for demonstration of carbohydrates by lectin histochemistry. It showed a very high detection efficiency with low background staining.