A facile and green method is proposed to immobilize silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) showing antibacterial and biocompatible properties on surfaces of substrates. The adhesive and reductive polydopamine (Pdop) coating was applied on the substrates such as polyethylene, glass, poly(methyl methacrylate), and poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) by simply dipping into dopamine solutions. AgNPs of 5070 nm formed uniformly on the Pdop-coated surfaces after immersing in silver nitrate solution where the density of AgNPs was modulated by Pdop immobilization time. Antibacterial efficacy, lactate dehydrogenase assay, and cell morphology observed by microscopy indicated that the as-prepared AgNPs deposited on Pdop/substrates possessed effective biocidal properties and did not inhibit the growth of L-929 cells mouse fibroblasts. The proposed method can be easily applied on different substrates and revealed good biocompatibility, which could be further developed for applications in biomaterials. (C) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys, 2013