The visitors, clearly anxious to improve their league position and battle their way clear of the relegation zone, began brightly with Craig Winters seeing his shot defelected for a corner with less than a minute on the clock.
Raith retaliated when Brian Fairbairn cut in from the right and set up Chris Silvestro, who sent his shot wide.
The game settled into something of a lull as the first half progressed, and the only efforts of note before the interval were long-range shots from either side.
Dumbarton's Stephen Ferguson tested Raith keeper Ally Brown with a speculative shot from 25 yards, then Rovers' midfielder Mark Crilly sent in a 30- yarder which produced an excellent save from Stephen Grindlay at the other end.
With eight minutes of the half remaining, Sons' Ryan Borris saw his own 30-yard effort slip wide of Brown's left-hand post.
Dumbarton seemed keen to increase the tempo after the break and, in a 10-minute spell, they forced four superb saves from the in-form Brown.
The Raith keeper made an outstanding reaction save from a Jamie Smith header in the 66th minute, and then foiled Chris Boyle, Ryan Borris and Andy Rodgers as Paul Martin's men pushed for the opener.
Other than a solitary effort from Paul McManus at the other end which was easily saved by Grindlay, Raith rarely looked like breaking down the well-organised Dumbarton defence and the match stuttered along to a goal-less conclusion.