The dependence on laser fluence and laser pulse duration of size, size distribution and concentration of gold nanoparticles synthesized by laser ablation in liquid media was investigated. It was demonstrated that increasing laser energy from 1 to 5 mJ/pulse enhances the ablation rate by a factor of 100. The behavior of the ablation rate, hence of the nanoparticle concentration, as a function of pulse duration (varied from 40 fs to 200 ps) was found to strongly differ from that in air, which can be explained by photoionization and important losses of laser energy in the femtosecond regime. The optimal pulse duration for maximum ablation rate in liquid media was found to be equal to 2 ps.