In this paper, silicon solar cells with Ag nanoparticles deposited on a SiO2 spacer were studied concentrating on the influence of the surface plasmon and the antireflection film. We experimentally found that the photocurrent conversion efficiency of the solar cell decorated by random arrays of self-assembled Ag nanoparticles increases firstly and decreases afterwards with increasing spacer thickness. Further investigations on the external quantum efficiency (EQE) illustrated this trend more clearly. It was also found that the effect of the surface plasmon on light absorption dominates over that of the antireflection film at the resonance wavelength which is an important factor determining the light trapping. Moreover, surface plasmon is determined by both the Si substrate and the SiO2 spacer. For self-assembled Ag particles on the surface of the solar cells in our experiments, appropriate spacer thickness (9-35 nm) could broaden the plasmon resonance, narrow the photocurrent suppression range, weaken the suppression amplitude and strengthen the gain at the resonance wavelength, while still providing antireflection effect.