The existing gold and zinc vacuum metal deposition (VMD) process does not develop marks on the nonporous surfaces. However, silver can develop marks on surfaces that give poor results using gold and zinc deposition. Silver can be used as a sequential treatment on surfaces where the gold and zinc process has not performed well. To check for further development, samples processed using silver VMD should be scrutinized both immediately after process and after a period of 24 hour. VMD has been used for many years as an industrial process for applying metal coating to articles such as optical mirrors. Today, VMD has become an established technique for fingerprint development. It is now being used worldwide. Despite advances in deposition conditions, VMD fails to produce a surface coating or to resolve ridge detail. This article reports some of the studies carried out on alternative VMD processes and proposes a technique suitable for developing fingerprints on surfaces currently regarded as problematic for VMD. Figures and references