The influence of the environment on surface acoustic wave (SAW) parameters can be used to detect specific gases that are present in this environment. The basic research problem was to determine the dependence of the resonant frequency and attenuation of waves in a resonator with SAW on the parameters and concentrations of specific gases in the gaseous environment in which the resonator works. The secondary objective was to determine whether this dependence is strong enough to be used for the construction of sensors and whether it is possible to identify gases present in the environment based on such measurements. Two-port resonators from SAW and measuring stand of our own design were used for the research. The analyses conducted and laboratory measurements confirmed the existence of the above-described dependence. It was found that it increases with the increase of the difference between the molar mass of the gas being tested and the average molecular mass of the gaseous environment. This fact makes the proposed method suitable for detection of gases of relatively low or high molar masses. In air it is possible to detect hydrogen, helium, krypton, xenon and vapour of volatile compounds with sufficiently high molar masses.