Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and low energy electron diffraction (LEED) were used to study the first steps of growth and oxidation of aluminum on Ag(1 1 1) substrate. We find that the growth of aluminum at room temperature (RT) shows the formation of a complete monolayer (ML) in epitaxy with the substrate. After deposition at RT of one aluminum ML, the dissolution kinetics is recorded at 200 degrees C and the bulk diffusion coefficient is deduced. We also show that the oxidation at RT of one aluminum ML is very rapid, and that both aluminum and oxygen do not dissolve in silver up to 500 degrees C. From the AES intensities variations, we deduce the composition profile of the oxide layer which corresponds probably to the stacking.../Ag/ Ag/Al/O. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.