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In this work, a facile, environmental-friendly and cost-effective method was developed to prepare silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) in aqueous solution at room temperature. In our approach, tannic acid was employed as the reducing agent and stabilizer simultaneously, avoiding the usage of any toxic agent. The tannic acid derived silver nanoparticles (TA-Ag NPs) were fully characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA). The particle size of the synthesized TA-Ag NPs is tunable from 6.5nm to 19.2nm with narrow distribution by varying the molar ratio of TA to silver precursor. Efficient reduction of methylene blue (MB) catalyzed by TA-Ag NPs was observed, which was dependent upon the particle size of TA-Ag NPs or the TA concentration used for synthesis. By optimizing the TA concentration, complete reduction of MB was accomplished by TA-Ag NPs within 8min. The high catalytic activity of TA-Ag NPs was attributed to their nanosize and good dispersity as well as the electrostatic interaction between TA and MB which induces rapid enrichment of MB towards TA-Ag NPs, creating a locally concentrated layer of MB. Considering the facile and environmental-friendly preparation procedure and excellent catalytic activity, TA-Ag NPs are green, efficient and highly economical candidates for the catalysis of organic dyes and extendable of other reducible contaminants as well.