To provide a silver powder for treatment of conductive paste, and a conductive paste, capable of coping with such a high-temperature calcination that it can prevent separation or adhesion failure of a metallic conductor accompanying expansion/shrinking difference between the metallic conductor and ceramics of the conductive paste at calcination, and can sufficiently restrain oxidation of the metallic conductor, in the conductive paste for forming a conductive circuit of electron circuit components or the like.

The silver powder for the conductive paste is made by coating a SiO2 system gel coated film containing 0.01-10 wt.% of Si having a thickness of 0.1-100 nm on the surface of the silver powder particles having an average particle size of 0.1-10 μm. In the manufacturing method, the silver powder, an organosilane compound, and water are reacted in a water-soluble organic solvent and a hydrolysis product of the organosilane compound is produced, and a gelation agent such as aqueous ammonia is added in the obtained suspension, and a SiO2 system gel coated film is formed on the surface of the silver powder particle, and then, by carrying out solid-liquid separation, the silver particle having SiO2 system gel coated film is extracted.