A conductive polymer-promoted reductive route for the synthesis of gold nanoplates is achieved by treatment of chloroauric acid in the presence of the conductive sulfonated polyaniline without using any other reducing agent. The results show that the sulfonated polyaniline provides the dual function of promoting Au-III reduction to Au-0 and shape-controlled synthesis of the gold nanoplates in high yield. It is found that the shape of Au nanoplates is independent of the concentration of HAuCl4. This simple and novel synthetic strategy may also shed some light on the preparation of other noble metal nanostructure by using conductive polymer. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.