The paper aims to study effects of silver antibacterial agents on the antibacterial properties, whiteness and mechanical properties of packaging paper. Three different silver antibacterial agents of silver acetate, silver nanoparticles and silver sulfadiazine were selected and the antibacterial paper was prepared by surface coating method. Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were selected to study the antibacterial properties and the physical properties of the antibacterial paper compared with the blank samples. These three kinds of antibacterial paper had antibacterial effects on Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus especially for Staphylococcus aureus. The diameter of bacteriostatic ring was 0.35 mm to 5.46 mm. When the mass fraction was 0 to 0.5%, the antibacterial properties of silver acetate antibacterial paper were increased. When the mass fraction was 0 to 10%, the antibacterial properties of nano silver antibacterial paper were increased too. When the mass fraction was 0.6%, the antibacterial property of silver sulfadiazine antibacterial paper was the best. The antibacterial agent had no obvious effect on the mechanical properties except the whiteness. The antibacterial effects of the three kinds of antibacterial paper on Staphylococcus aureus are better than that of Escherichia coli. The antibacterial performance of the antibacterial paper is related to the concentration and species of the antibacterial agent. The antibacterial treatment has little effect on the mechanical properties of the packaging paper, but silver acetate and silver nanoparticles will lead to a decrease in the whiteness of the paper.