A b s t r a c tGold and silver nanoparticles are used in a variety of biomedical practice as carriers of drugs, enhancers and/or converters of optical signal, immunomarkers, etc. The review examines a decade publications (2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015)(2016) pertaining to the various influence of nanoparticles of noble metals (gold and silver) on growth and productivity of higher plants. In fact, possible phytotoxicity of these nanoparticles is being actively studied for over 10 years. The topicality of this field of research is due to the detection of a number of natural and human-caused factors resulting in interactions of plants with nanoparticles (B.P. Colman et al., 2013; N.G. Khlebtsov et al., 2011). A positive or negative impact of nanoparticles on plants is little known, and the information is very contradictory (P. Manchikanti et al., 2010; M. Carrière et al., 2012; C. Remédios et al., 2012; N. Zuverza-Mena et al., 2016). In the study both model (Arabidopsis thaliana) and cultivated plants (soy, canola, beans, rice, radish, tomato, pumpkin, etc.) were involved. The discussed data are indicative of both positive and negative effects of metal nanoparticles on plants, as well as of the chemical nature, size, shape, surface charge, and the dose introduced being the major factors that are responsible for the processes of intracellular nanoparticle penetration. In general terms, it was mentioned that silver nanoparticles were more toxic as compared to gold ones being due to more active silver ion diffusion from the silver nanoparticle surface. Silver ions are known to inhibit effectively biosynthesis of ethylene -a phytohormone controlling processes of plant stress, aging etc., wherein gold ions do not influence ethylene biosynthesis and signaling. Considered all, metal ion toxicity exceeds considerably a toxicity of nanoparticles. The mechanism of the nanoparticle phytotoxic action is often connected with accumulation of active oxygen species in plant tissues. The use of cell suspension cultures may be a promising approach to study plant-nanoparticles interaction (E. Planchet et al., 2015). The period during which these studies are conducted is still small for elucidating all aspects with regard to biosafety. Contradictory (often conflicting) information on the impact of nanoparticles, in our opinion, is a result of diverse experimental conditions used. It is noted that while being clearly incomplete and contradictory, the obtained data suggest that a coordinated research program is needed that would detect correlations between particle parameters, experimental design, and the observed biological effects.Keywords: gold nanoparticles, silver nanoparticles, toxicity, biological effects, plantsIn recent decades, both scientists and the world community have paid much attention to nanotechnology, based on the use of objects no larger than 100 nm in the synthesis, assembly and modification of substances, materials and structures with unusual (often unexpected) properties. The specific chara...