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Sphingomonas is a novel and abundant microbial resource for biodegradation of aromatic compounds. It has great potential in environment protection and industrial production. The use of microorganisms for the synthesis of nanoparticles is in the limelight of modern nanotechnology, since it is cost effective, non‐toxic and friendly to the ever‐overwhelmed environment. In this paper, the biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using Sphingomonas paucimobilis sp. BDS1 under ambient conditions was investigated for the first time. Biosynthesised AgNPs were characterised with powder ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), field emission scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy. The overall results revealed that well‐dispersed face centred cubic spherical AgNPs in the range of 50–80 nm were produced on the surface of Sphingomonas paucimobilis sp. BDS1, after challenging pure wet biomass with silver nitrate solution. This suggests that the capture of silver ions may be a complex process of physical and chemical adsorption and the proteins on the surface of the bacteria may play the role of reduction and stabilising agent with regard to the result of FTIR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]