Ultrafine particles of many materials have received much attention over the last few years by researchers because of their unique physical and mechanical properties due to increased surface area to volume ratio. A novel laser-liquid interaction technique has been developed to synthesize silver nanoparticles from inexpensive silver nitrate solution in distilled water. The shape, size distribution, microchemistry and crystal structure of the silver nanoparticles were studied using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and electron probe X-ray microanalysis.