The present work describes a method for the development of an efficient silver nanowire (AgNWs) embedded indium tin oxide (ITO) based silicon heterojunction solar cell. The working mechanism of the heterojunction solar cell is studied by using the current-voltage (J-V) and Impedance spectroscopy (IS) techniques. The charge transfer mechanism and recombination process of the solar cell were explained by resistance, capacitance and ideality factor derived from both these techniques. A relatively high efficiency has been achieved for AgNWs embedded ITO-Si heterojunction solar cell in which AgNWs network acts as a transparent buried contact. This study also provides a new architecture for various heterojunction solar cells with a simple route of fabrication. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.