We report the morphological, structural, magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of La0.7Sr0.2Ag0.1MnO3 ceramics produced by the well-known sal gel method combined to a sintering treatment at 1000 degrees C and by the conventional solid solid method with a consolidation stage at 1200 degrees C. X-ray diffraction analysis evidenced a well crystallized manganite phase in both cases. Nevertheless a small contamination with Ag and Mn3O4 was observed in the first and second samples, respectively, making their exact chemical composition different. As a consequence, a substantial increase of the ferromagnetic to paramagnetic transition temperature and an enhancement of the relative cooling power were observed in the sol gel made sample making it more suitable for magnetic refrigeration applications. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.