The efficiency of 2 enrichment broths and 4 plating media for detecting the presence of Staphylococcus aureus was compared in 109 food samples. Media tested were Trypticase Soy broth containing 10% NaCl (TSBS), the tellurite enrichment broth (TEB) of Giolitti and Cantoni, Vogel and Johnson agar, egg yolk 110 agar, tellurite polymyxin egg yolk agar, and Baird-Parker medium. S. aureus was detected more frequently with combinations of TSBS and the 4 plating media than with TEB combinations. We also found TEB more inconvenient to use than TSBS. The superiority of a single plating medium was not clearly demonstrated. In only 10 of 108 positive samples did one plating medium fail when all others successfully detected S. aureus, and in over 50% of these samples the organism was detected by all plating media tested.