Laser‐induced desorption on a nanometer scale using scanning near‐field optical microscopy (SNOM) is demonstrated. Pulsed laser‐induced desorption of anthracene with completely metallized SNOM fiber tips resulted in a lateral resolution of 70 nm. This became possible due to the use of chemically etched tips with a taper region smaller than 200 &mgr;m and cone angles varying from 6 to 30 degrees. These tips are further useful for optical imaging with a very high optical transmission coefficient (up to 10−3), achieving a lateral resolution of 80 nm. ©1996 American Institute of Physics.