The effect of silver particles on the sliding behavior of bearing steels was studied experimentally by using a ball-on-disk tribometer. Tests were performed in ambient air, dry air and vacuum. Disks of AISI 52100 were silver-coated by a thermal evaporation method, and the effects of silver particle transfer on friction were analyzed. In order to understand further the mechanism of silver particle transfer and its effect on friction and wear, pre-compressed silver particles were artificially introduced into the friction interface and the results were compared to those of silver-coated specimens. Results showed that the introduced silver particles produced transfer layers and resulted in low friction. It also showed that this low friction is closely related to the characteristic behavior of transfer layers. Shakedown occurred at the friction interface affected the friction and wear.