An image forming method comprising the steps of: (i) imagewise exposing a silver halide light-sensitive material comprising a support having thereon at least a light-sensitive silver halide emulsion, a hydrophilic binder and a slightly water-soluble basic metal compound; (ii) laminating the silver halide material with a processing sheet comprising a compound which forms a complex with a metal ion constituting the basic metal compound, a physical development nucleus, a solvent for a silver halide and a matting agent, after or concurrently with the imagewise exposure; and (iii) conducting heat development in the presence of a reducing agent and water to form a silver image on at least one of the light-sensitive material and the processing sheet, wherein the processing sheet comprises an uppermost layer containing the physical development nucleus; the product of the weight ratio in the uppermost layer of the amount of the physical development nucleus to that of the binder and the reciprocal of the mean size (.mu.m) of the physical development nucleus is not less than 1.5; the amount of the binder in the uppermost layer is from 0.001 g/m.sup.2 to 0.8 g/m.sup.2 ; and the uppermost layer has a contact angle with respect to water of not more than 60.degree..