Hydrogel silver nanocomposites are found to be excellent materials for antibacterial applications. To enhance their applicability novel hydrogel-silver nanoparticle-curcumin composites have been developed. For developing, these composites, the hydrogel matrices are synthesized first by polymerizing acrylamide in the presence of poly(vinyl sulfonic acid sodium salt) and a trifunctional crosslinker (2,4,6-triallyloxy 1,3,5-triazine, TA) using redox initiating system (ammonium persulphate/TMEDA). Silver nanoparticles are generated throughout the hydrogel networks using in situ method by incorporating the silver ions and subsequent reduction with sodium borohydride. Curcumin loading into hydrogel-silver nanoparticles composite is achieved by diffusion mechanism. A series of hydrogel-silver nanoparticle-curcumin composites are developed and are characterized by using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and UV-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, thermal analyses, as well as scanning and transmission electron microscopic (SEM/TEM) methods. An interesting arrangement of silver nanoparticles i.e., a shining sun shape (ball) (similar to 5 nm) with apparent smaller grown nanoparticles (similar to 1 nm) is observed by TEM. The curcumin loading and release characteristics are performed for various hydrogel composite systems. A comparative antimicrobial study is performed for hydrogel-silver nanocomposites and hydrogel-silver nanoparticle-curcumin composites. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 121: 784-796, 2011