Holographic lithography in combination with electrochemical deposition provides a novel and readily controlled method for preparing dendritic three-dimensional silver nanostructure with a large surface area. The scanning electron microscope and the synchrotron radiation X-ray three-dimensional imaging technique are used to characterize the as-prepared silver nanomaterial and demonstrate that the obtained silver has a three-dimensional dendritic morphology. The observed typical widths between the neighbor branches of the dendritic silver nanostructure are 30-50 nm. The configuration of the silver nanostructure is greatly related to the width of gold wires which are fabricated using holographic lithography and serve as substrate of the silver nanostructure. The three-dimensional silver architecture is formed only when silver is electrochemically deposited on 400-nm-width gold. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.