In the present study, hydrogen-absorbed Mg 2 Ni intermetallic powders were prepared by mechanical alloying under an Ar atmosphere. Modification of the Mg 2 Ni powders was attempted by adding silver (0.5, 1.0, 2.5, and 5.0 at%) into starting elemental powder mixtures. The asmilled powders were examined as a function of milling time by X-ray diffraction and synchrotron X-ray absorption techniques. In addition, the hydrogen absorption performance of the 15 h as-milled powders were evaluated. The experimental results show that (Mg 2 Ni) 100Àx Ag x powders exhibited a mixture of Mg 2 Ni, magnesium and nickel solid solutions after 15 h of milling treatment. The maximum hydrogen absorption content and reversible hydrogen content of 15 h as-milled Mg 2 Ni powders was 3.14 and 2.40 mass%, respectively. An improvement of hydrogen absorption properties can be noticed by doping silver, but the less silver addition the better performance. In the present study, (Mg 2 Ni) 99:5 Ag 0:5 exhibited the best hydrogen absorption properties where the maximum hydrogen absorption content and reversible hydrogen content was increased significantly to 3.93 and 3.14 mass% respectively. More than 25% improvement of hydrogen absorption for Mg 2 Ni intermetallic powders was achieved by doping silver.