A silver-acrylate nanocomposite was prepared using a novel one-pot strategy involving eosin dye as visible sensitizer and an amine derivative as radicals' source. The mechanism highlighted by steady state photolysis and time-resolved absorption spectroscopy lies on the initial formation of a strong ion-pair complex between eosin and Ag+. Upon visible irradiation, the excited triplet state of the metal complex efficiently abstracts a hydrogen atom from the amine and produces an alpha-aminoalkyl radical In acrylate monomer matrix. such a strong reactive species initiates a free radical photopolymerization and also provides the reduction of the silver cation Through this 'in-situ' fabrication method, the kinetics formation of the nanocomposite and its detailed structural analysis are characterized by UV-visible, real-time FTIR absorption spectroscopy and by transmission electron microscopy. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved