Amphibians and other herpetofauna may be useful in assessing the biological integrity of small streams, so determining which sampling technique maximizes encounters is important. Area-constrained surveys (ACS), used by the Maryland Biological Stream Survey, were tested against cover-board surveys, drift fences with pitfall and funnel traps, quadrat leaf-litter searches, leaf-litter bags, and electrofishing. Twenty sites within the coastal plain region of Maryland, west of the Chesapeake Bay, were sampled with each technique once a month from June 2006 through August 2006. Overall, ACS and electrofishing yielded significantly more taxa and total individuals than cover-board surveys, quadrat searches, and leaf-litter bags; drift fence captures were moderate between ACS and electrofishing and the other methods. Electrofishing and ACS collected both more taxa and more individuals more reliably through time than the other techniques used; therefore, efforts to use herpetofauna to monitor the health of small streams will benefit from incorporating these methods into a sampling protocol.