We investigated evanescent field enhancement based on subwavelength nanogratings for improved sensitivity in total internal reflection microscopy of live cells. the field enhancement is associated with subwavelength-grating-coupled plasmon excitation. An optimum sample employed a silver grating on a silver film and an SF10 glass substrate. Field intensity was enhanced by approximately 90% when measured by fluorescent excitation of microbeads relative to that on a bare prism as a control, which is in good agreement with numerical results. the subwavelength-grating-mediated field enhancement was also applied to live cell imaging of quantum dots, which confirmed the sensitivity enhancement qualitatively.