In this paper, we study the multiple scattering by electrically small (the radius of the cylinder is much smaller than the wavelength) plasmonic nanocylinders near surface plasmon resonance. The cylinders are assumed to be identical in dimension and composition. The incident plane wave is assumed to be TE polarized so that the plasmon resonance of two-dimensional cylindrical structures (for both individual and group of cylinders) can be excited. It is found that multiple plasmonic cylinders enhance the near-field magnetic field intensity due to mutual coupling. When the electrical dimension q of the cylinders (q=k(0)R, where k(0) is the wave number of the free space and R is the radius of the cylinder) is fixed, the magnitude of the field distribution primarily depends on the positions of the cylinders at normal incidence. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.2975214]