The adsorption behavior of silver atoms on a glucose film and their interaction was investigated by metastable induced electron spectroscopy (MIES), ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy as well as atomic force microscopy. Glucose is found to form micro droplets on gold substrates with typical diameters/dimensions of about 400 nm. The discussion of the valence band structures is carried out in comparison to various model systems. The adsorbed silver atoms on top of the glucose have been found to form silver nanoparticles that get encapsulated by a large film of glucose. Furthermore, the reduction of the glucose in the presence of these silver particles is observed. This effect is discussed with the most probable origin of the reduction being the charging by electron spectroscopy. (C) 2013 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.