Gentamicin is an aminoglycoside (AMG) antibiotic widely used in human and veterinary medicine as they present a broad spectrum of action covering gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. However, medical prescription of AMG must be made with care due to possible side effects such as nephrotoxicity and ototoxicity. Spectroanalytical methods used for the determination of gentamicin almost always require the modification of the analyte molecule by chemical derivatization agents since AMG does not have any relevant chromophore groups. Chemical derivatization is cumbersome and in most cases results in poor accuracy due to, for instance, difficulties to reproduce reaction yields. In the present work, the influence of gentamicin (as sulphate) on the plasmon resonance on the surface of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) was studied and used to develop analytical methods for the determination of this AMG. Spherical gold nanoparticles (AuNPs-E), both in aqueous medium and in médium containing surfactants, as well as gold nanorods (AuNPs-B) in an aqueous medium containing residues of the cationic surfactant used in the synthesis, as analytical probes for gentamicin. The AuNPs-E were synthesized in conditions similar to those described by Turkevich while AuNPs-B were obtained in the presence of the cationic surfactant CTAB as described by El-Sayed and Nikoobakht. A careful study was carried out to establish the conditions for a stable and reproducible optical response of the analytical probe in the presence of gentamicin. Among these conditions includes the pH values of the working probe, stabilization time of the probe, the type and concentration of surfactant in 9 the system. The final conditions for the determination of gentamicin using AuNPs-E were 4.1 × 10 raised to -10 mol L raised to -1 of nanoparticle in the working dispersion, pH 3.7 (the original pH of the AuNPs-E aqueous dispersion), 1.0 × 10 raised to -8 mol L raised to -1 of the surfactant Tween-20. For the AuNPs-B probe, the chosen conditions were: 3.8 × 10 raised to -10 mol L raised to -1 of nanoparticles in the working dispersions, pH 5.2 (pH of the stock dispersion AuNPs B). The signals generated by these probes were stable for at least 2 h.The analytical curves were constructed by monitoring the light transmitted through the aqueous dispersion at 526 nm (decreasing of the transversal resonance band) or at 681 nm (increment of a band resulting from the agglomeration of AuNPs) to AuNPs-E, and 516 nm (decreasing of the transversal resonance band) or at 662 nm (decreasing of the longitunidal resonance band) in the case of AuNPs-B. For both of the probes, regardless of the monitored wavelength, the linear analytical response range covered two orders of magnitude (from 10 raised to -9 to 10 raised to -7 mol L raised to -1). The detection limits for gentamicin were 1.7 × 10 raised to -9 mol L raised to -1 in the method based on the use of AuNPs-E probe, and 5.3 × 10 raised to -9 mol L raised to -1 for the method based on the use of the AuNPs-B probe. The methods were applied for the analysis of two gentamicin sulfate based formulations (injectable solutions) commercially available for the treatment of dairy cattle. The methods were selective in relation to the excipients present in these injectable solutions (considering the relative amounts of these in the formulations) and analytical results indicated percent recoveries of gentamicin between 96 and 98 per cent (relative to the values indicated in the medicine instructions) which was statistically equal to the percent recoveries obtained using the reference colorimetric method based on the chemical derivatization using ninhydrin.