Abstract: Soil environmental criteria are important for derivation of soil environmental quality standards, and are the cornerstone of soil environmental protection and management. However, lack of attention paid to soil environmental criteria has led to a shortage of basic data of soil in China, which seriously affects the scientific establishment of soil environmental quality standards. In the present study, foreign methods for the derivation of groundwater protection-based soil criteria were reviewed. The adsorption test was used to obtain the distribution coefficients (K_d) of silver (Ag) in Ferrosol from Hunan, Primosol from Beijing, and Isohumosol from Heilongjiang. The aquifer parameters and other key parameters of the three soil types were collected from literature. The soil criteria of silver were derived using the SSL (soil screening level) model of the U.S. EPA, based on the drinking water standard of China. The result showed that the distribution coefficients of silver in Primosol, Isohumosol and Ferrosol were 7.10,6.7 and 132 L/kg, respectively. According to the distribution coefficient and other key parameters, the soil criteria value of Ag for groundwater protection is 0.440 mg/kg for Ferrosol, 3.04 mg/kg for Isohumosol and 7.80 mg/kg for Primosol. The values are in the range of soil environmental criteria of silver of other countries or regions. The difference was mainly because of differences in soil property, aquifer types and heavy metal distribution coefficient in the soils.