Described herein are methods of making metallic or elemental silver. These methods generally include a step of forming a reaction dispersion that includes a silver-containing compound, an organic acid, and a solvent that includes an alcohol, followed by mixing the reaction dispersion for a time and at a temperature effective to form a reaction product that includes metallic silver from a cationic silver species of the silver-containing compound. Also described herein are metallic or elemental silver produced by these methods.