A glass or glass-like substrate having a contact-killing, non-leaching antimicrobial effective amount of metal ions contained in at least one surface region thereof, and having a color of b*nullnull6 on the CIE international color scale is disclosed. The antimicrobial substrate is prepared by providing a metal ion precursor comprising at least one source of antimicrobial effective metal ions dissolved or otherwise dispersed in a carrier material; depositing the precursor onto at least one surface of the substrate; drying the substrate at a temperature of from about 20null C. to about 105null C. by removing volatiles from the metal ion precursor; and heating the resulting substrate at a temperature of about 600-650null C. for 2-5 min. to exchange or otherwise implant antimicrobial metal ions from the precursor and into the glass or glass-like substrate.