Present disclosure relates to a method of diagnosing malaria infection in a patient by Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS). The method includes obtaining a sample from said patient, mixing the sample with a suspension of magnetic nanoparticles, wherein said magnetic nanoparticles adsorb hemozoin present in the sample onto their surface, obtaining the SERS spectra of the sample, and correlating the obtained SERS spectra to the presence or amount of hemozoin in the sample, wherein the presence of hemozoin is indicative of malaria infection.