To obtain an efficient approach to metalize silk fabric, a novel method was explored and silver-plated silk was prepared. In this study, tris (2-carboxyethyl) phosphine (TCEP) was utilized as a reducing agent to generate thiol groups on the silk surface. These thiol groups react with silver ions to form metal complexes, which were used as catalytic seeds and successfully initiated electroless silver plating. A variety of methods, including Raman, XRD, TG, SEM and EDS were used to characterize the intermediates and final products. The results showed that a uniform and smooth metal layer could be obtained when compared with that without TCEP pretreatment. The silver-plated silk fabric exhibited good electrical conductivity and high anti-bacterial properties. These attractive features enable this conductive silk fabric to be a good candidate as a biomedical material. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.