High series resistance due to the presence of glass frit is one of the major problems for screen printed silicon solar cells. Cells having electrical parameters below the prescribed values are usually rejected during solar module fabrication. Therefore, it is highly desirable to improve the electrical parameters of the silicon solar cells and thereby to increase the overall production yield. It was observed that, the performance of low quality mono-crystalline silicon solar cells made by standard screen printing technology could be improved remarkably by novel surface treatment. We have chemically treated the surface using sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and silver nitrate ($AgNO_3$) solutions. NaOH treatment helps to reduce the series resistance by decreasing the presence of excess glass frit on the top silver grid contact. The $AgNO_3$ treatment is used to reduce the series resistance comes from the deposition of silver on the grids by filling the holes present (if any) within the grid pattern.