Instrumental options for Raman spectroscopy in light of low noise, Si charged coupled device (CCD) detectors are discussed. The unique sensitivity of this detector in the wavelength interval between 0.8 and 0.98 um is shown. The potential advantages of employing diode laser excitation at wavelengths longer than 0.75 um for nonresonant vibrational Raman spectroscopy along with the available high throughput spectrometers at these wavelengths are delineated. The application of detection in this spectral region to quantitative determination of acceptor impurities in bulk semi-insulating GaAs is demonstrated. The improvement over excitation at 1.06 um is shown to exceed 104.