Raman molecular imaging (RMI) is used to detect mammalian cells of a particular phenotype. For example the disclosure includes the use of RMI to differentiate between normal and diseased cells or tissues, e.g., cancer cells as well as in determining the grade of said cancer cells. In a preferred embodiment benign and malignant lesions of bladder and other tissues can be distinguished, including epithelial tissues such as lung, prostate, kidney, breast, and colon, and non-epithelial tissues, such as bone marrow and brain. Raman scattering data relevant to the disease state of cells or tissue can be combined with visual image data to produce hybrid images which depict both a magnified view of the cellular structures and information relating to the disease state of the individual cells in the field of view. Also, RMI techniques may be combined with visual image data and validated with other detection methods to produce confirm the matter obtained by RMI.