In the present work the formation of the interface between polycrystalline silver and thin films of titanium oxide was studied with photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS, UPS) and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS). Titanium oxide was deposited stepwise on 100 nm thick silver films by reactive magnetron sputtering allowing to study the evolution of the interface formation process. The process involves two steps: formation of thin layer of silver oxide and subsequent growth of the TiO2 film. For better understanding of the silver oxidation process, pure silver films were exposed to a low temperature Ar/O plasma for different time intervals providing a possibility to investigate early stages of the oxide film growth. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V.. All rights reserved.