Silver nanoparticles have been prepared using a "terminated gas condensation" technique. An unprecedented control of 5-6 nm-size nanoparticles with well defined shape and variable surface densities has been achieved. The technology is shown to permit independent control of both, plasmon resonance intensity and frequency position. On the basis of optical measurements, a smart tuning of plasmon resonance intensity with particle density is indeed demonstrated. Moreover, the embedding of NPs in different surrounding medium enables to control the resonance wavelength as experimentally demonstrated and theoretically confirmed. © (2011) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.