A facile and simple method for the synthesis of biocompatible gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) at room temperature has been developed by using sodium borohydride as the reducing agent and employing an inexpensive water-soluble chondroitin sulfate (CS) biopolymer as the stabilizing agent. The as-prepared AuNPs were characterized with ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Additionally, the stability of AuNPs in aqueous solution was investigated as a function of the electrolyte sodium chloride concentration. The experimental results showed that even high sodium chloride concentration (1 M) also did not destabilize the colloidal gold solution. So it could be speculated that the high stability of AuNPs should be attributed to the electrostatic repulsion and steric hindrance between the AuNPs stabilized by CS molecules, which wrapped around the surface of as-prepared AuNPs and prevented their agglomeration, and simultaneously improve biocompatibility of AuNPs as well. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.