Raids on the homes of three men found material "useful to a person preparing or committing an act of terrorism", a court has been told.
It included instructions on making a suicide vest, explosives and poisons.
A Microsoft Powerpoint slideshow, "The Illustrated Booby Trapping Course", was allegedly found on a laptop.
Younes Tsouli, 23, and Tariq Al-Daour, 21, both from west London, and Waseem Mughal, 24, from Kent, deny charges under the 2000 Terrorism Act.
The raids were carried out in October 2005, Woolwich Crown Court heard on Tuesday.
Police found a 26-minute film on a computer CD at the Chatham home of Mr Mughal.
It had details about constructing a suicide vest, including making the explosive charge and attaching ball bearings to act as shrapnel, prosecutor Mark Ellison said.
The court was told that the Powerpoint presentation found on a laptop at Moroccan-born Mr Tsouli's home, in Shepherd's Bush, was described by a weapons expert from the Forensic Explosives Laboratory as "a detailed guide to the science and use of a variety of military and improvised explosives".
A search of UAE-born Mr Al-Daour's home, in Bayswater, allegedly found computer files on manufacturing explosives and poisons.
The court has heard that the three defendants used e-mail, extremist websites and internet chatrooms to incite Muslims to join a violent holy war against non-believers.
'Terrorist acts abroad'
Mr Al-Daour's alleged online conversations included him saying that he was in favour of suicide bombings.
The prosecution said Mr Tsouli's internet activities showed him to be "well-connected to those who were in apparently significant positions in facilitating and encouraging terrorist acts abroad".
All three defendants deny inciting others to commit an act of terrorism wholly or partly outside the UK.
Mr Tsouli and Mr Mughal also deny charges of conspiracy to murder, while Mr Al-Daour has pleaded not guilty to conspiring with others to defraud banks, credit card companies and charge card companies.
The trial continues.