We consider a strongly elliptic second-order system in a bounded n-dimensional domain Omega(+) with Lipschitz boundary Gamma, n >= 2. The smoothness assumptions on the coefficients are minimized. For convenience, we assume that the domain is contained in the standard torus T-n. In previous papers, we obtained results on the unique solvability of the Dirichlet and Neumann problems in the spaces H-p(sigma) and B-p(sigma) without use of surface potentials. In the present paper, using the approach proposed by Costabel and McLean, we define surface potentials and discuss their properties assuming that the Dirichlet and Neumann problems in Omega(+) and the complementing domain Omega(-) are uniquely solvable. In particular, we prove the invertibility of the integral single layer operator and the hypersingular operator in Besov spaces on Gamma. We describe some of their spectral properties as well as those of the corresponding transmission problems.