The formation mechanism of Ag in an adsorption layer and the influence of temperature on the generation of Ag particles were studied. Two reaction systems were designed to explore the different reduction mechanisms of Ag+ in an adsorption layer and in bulk. A UV-vis adsorption spectrometer was employed to monitor the reaction process of Ag+ in two reaction systems. The results indicated that the formation mechanism of silver in an adsorption layer was largely different from that in alcohol bulk, which led to various morphologies of Ag particles in the two systems. Temperature experiments suggested that the induction time and morphology of Ag particles both changed greatly when temperature increased to 40 degrees C. The disappearance of physical-adsorption and the reaction occurring in alcohol bulk was the primary cause.