Display omitted •A low-cost surface plasmon resonance refractive index sensor based on DVD-ROM has been studied.•Wavelength modulation is used to detect different concentrations of NaCl solution, and the sensitivity is 540 nm/RIU.•Angular modulation is also used to detect NaCl solution, and the sensitivity is 32.4 degree/RIU.•FDTD simulation results are in good agreement with the experimental results. In this paper, a low-cost surface plasmon resonance refractive index sensor based on DVD-ROM is introduced. There is a special grating structure in DVD-ROM, which can be used to excite SPR effect. We have measured the optimal resonance angle of the grating with deionized water at 28°. Wavelength modulation and angle modulation are used to detect different concentrations of sodium chloride solution. The results show that the sensitivities of the two modulation methods are 540 nm/RIU and 32.4 degree/RIU, respectively. Furthermore, we use finite difference time domain method to simulate the two methods separately. The sensitivities are 514 nm/RIU and 30.8 degree/RIU, respectively. The simulation results are in good agreement with the experimental results. Using this method to prepare the detection substrate can greatly reduce the production cost of SPR sensors.