Abstract. The nano silver powder was prepared by liquid phase reduction of silver nitrate solution with ascorbic acid (C6H8O6) as the reducing agent and polyethylene glycol 200 as the dispersant. Through a L9(3 4 ) orthogonal project, the optimum process conditions were determined as follows: the concentration of AgNO3 was 20mg/mL, the amount of polyethylene glycol 200 was 10mL, and n(C6H8O6)/n(AgNO3) was 1:3, the reaction temperature was 60 ℃. Under these conditions, evenly dispersed and high purity nano-silver powder can be prepared. The average particle size of the silver nanoparticles was less than 10 nm by Malvern laser particle size analyzer, TEM and XRD. The antibacterial activity of nano silver powder was tested, and the results showed that when the concentration of nano-silver powder was 10ug/mL, the inhibition zone of E. coli could reach 15mm, and the antibacterial effect was significant.