In the present work, water-based gold nanofluids were synthesized by the solution plasma processing (SPP). The size distribution and the shape of gold nanoparticles in the nanofluids were investigated using high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM). The dispersion stability of gold nanofluids was characterized using zeta potential, as well. The thermal properties of gold nanofluids were measured by utilizing lambda measurement device. Nanofluids containing nanoparticles with $64.0{pm}42.1;nm{sim}18.10{pm}5.0;nm$ in diameter were successfully synthesized. As diameter of nanoparticles decreased, dispersion stability of nanofluids increased and the enhanced ratio of thermal conductivity increased. The nanofluid with nanoparticles of $18.10;{pm};5.0;nm$ in diameter showed approximately 3% improvement in thermal conductivity measurement and this could be due to the enhanced Brownian movement.