Plasmonic-based biosensing technologies have been successfully commercialized and applied for monitoring various biomolecular interactions occurring at a sensor surface. In particular, the recent advances in nanofabrication methods and nanoparticle syntheses provide a new route to overcome the limitations of a conventional surface plasmon resonance biosensor, such as detection limit, sensitivity, selectivity, and throughput. In this paper, optical and physical properties of plasmonic nanostructures and their contributions to a realization of enhanced optical detection platforms are reviewed. Following vast surveys of the exploitation of metallic nanostructures supporting localized field enhancement, we will propose an outlook for future directions associated with a development of new types of plasmonic sensing substrates