A simple and efficient way to enhance the photoacoustic signal from solid or powder samples is described. The increase in signal is found to be related mainly to the diffusivity and the ratio of specific heats of the gas which is used to couple the heat variation at the sample surface to the microphone detector. The measured signal enhancement on various powder samples agrees fairly well with the one‐dimensional theory by Rosencwaig and Gersho. The effect of physical adsorption of gas by the sample is also examined.