In order to enhance the interface bonding strength between nylon substrate and silver coating, mechanical polishing was introduced into the traditional electroless plating process, and non-toxic and environmentally friendly glucose solution was used as reducing agent to replace formaldehyde, which was most commonly used in electroless plating. After the rapid preparation of nylon 6/Ag composites, X–ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were employed to investigate the composite phases and microstructure respectively. Moreover, effects of plating temperature, plating time, concentrations of silver nitrate solution (main salt) and glucose solution (reducing agent) on thickness of silver coating were studied. The results showed that the thickness of the silver plating layer increased firstly and then decreased with the increase of silver nitrate concentration, glucose concentration, plating time and plating temperature. Overly high plating temperature, silver nitrate concentration and glucose concentration would expedite the reduction reaction rate in the plating solution, which led to the decrease in the thickness of the silver plating layer as the silver ion concentration in the plating solution would self-decompose and the stability of the solution would deteriorate. Plenty of scratches would appear on the surface of plating layer when the plating time was overlong, leading to quality reduction in the plating layer. By optimizing the experimental parameters, nylon 6/Ag composites with tunable coating thickness were obtained.