After Testing Silver Polishes, Here Are the 5 Best We Recommend

Wright’s by Weiman Silver Polish Cream is our top pick for the best silver cleaner. It has an ammonia-free formula that’s safe to use on the most delicate pieces, including silver jewelry, diamonds, gemstones, stainless steel, porcelain, and more. If we had to recommend one silver polish, we would confidently pick this one—it’s by far our favorite.

This 8-ounce jar comes with a cleaning cloth for buffing, so you won’t have to worry about purchasing a separate cleaning tool or pulling an old rag from your linen closet.

We have to use a little elbow grease to remove the tarnish entirely, but the results are quick and well worth it. We see stellar results in a matter of two minutes. The paste formula also tends to be less messy than creams (which we appreciate!), and it’s simple and straightforward to use.

This cleaner not only a quick tarnish remover but also leaves behind a protective coating to prevent future buildup. While it’s awesome to find an effective silver polish to bring life back into your most loved pieces, the fact that you won’t have to re-apply weeks later is a bonus.

_{Type: Cream | For Use On: Silver, antique silver, pewter, stainless steel, porcelain, and chrome}

While all of our picks can be used to clean your most precious pieces, Connoisseurs Dazzle Drops are specifically formulated for jewelry cleaning. And unlike the Connoisseurs silver wipes, this cleaner is safe to use on gold, diamonds, stone, and more.

The cool thing about these cleaner drops is that you can use more than one application method, with one of those being a two-minute, hands-free soak or a nice scrub with the included cleaning brush. However, we got the best results by adding a couple of drops directly on our cleaning brush, rubbing it into the jewelry, and rinsing it with warm water.

If you choose to add the drops to the container of warm water and let the jewelry soak, we still recommend giving your pieces a good scrub before rinsing. The Connoisseurs Dazzle Drops are effective and did an outstanding job cleaning our dirty rings, but the included cup only holds seven ounces of water, so it’s not large enough for bigger jewelry pieces like long necklaces or large bracelets. But again, you can still use these drops without using the 4-inch cup. 

We also saw great results from Connoisseurs Premium Edition Jewelry Cleaner, another offering from the same brand. It’s also fast-cleaning, easy to use, and requires little to no hand involvement, so we wanted to shout it out.

_{Type: Liquid | For Use On: Silver, gold, platinum, diamonds, stone}

If you’d rather use a liquid silver polish, consider Weiman’s Silver Cleaner and Polish. It has many of the same great qualities as our best overall pick, such as an ammonia-free formula that’s safe to use on many surfaces, fast results, and prevention of future tarnishing. 

Along with its quick and effective results, one thing we appreciate about this silver cleaner is its scent. It smells like a classic cleaning agent with some sweetness mixed in. While we wouldn’t recommend a product solely based on its smell, we are pleasantly surprised by this one, especially when compared to some of the other options that didn’t make our final cut for this list.

Applying this cleaner is a breeze (as long as you’re careful). Squeezing the cleaner from the bottle to a towel required little to no muscle work. Once we rub the solution onto our silver piece, the tarnish starts to lift within the first swipe. When you’re done applying it, you rinse it off and follow up with a nice buff using a clean cloth. 

Our one area of caution? As smooth as the process is, it’s worth noting that the liquid formula can be a little messy if you’re not careful.

_{Type: Liquid | For Use On: All silver, antique silver, gold, brass, copper and aluminum}

For flatware in which the original shine has since been replaced by heavy tarnish, consider W.J. Hagerty’s Flatware Silver Dip. It’s a heavy tarnish remover so powerful that 95 percent of our flatware’s tarnish was gone by the third dip.

Cleaning our silver pieces is seamless. You simply drop the silver in the basket, lower it into the cleanser for no longer than 10 seconds, rinse, and dry with a soft cloth. If your silver has intricate designs, you may have to do more post-solution cleaning, as there was still some slight tarnish in the small grooves.  

While we love everything about the cleaner’s effectiveness and ease of use, the smell is horrible, even though the product itself says it’s unscented. Be prepared for a strong rotten egg scent. Yes, it sounds terrible, but if you can deal with the fumes, we say go for it!

Just be sure to clean your silver wearing a mask and work in a well-ventilated area, using fans or opening a couple of windows to help keep odor at bay.

_{Type: Liquid | For Use On: Flatware}

We love Connoisseur’s silver cleaner wipes for quick spruce-ups on smaller, intricate pieces like jewelry and silverware. These convenient wipes remove tarnish quickly, are disposable, can be easily stored, and have no detectable scent. 

Each package includes 10 wipes that not only restore shine but also leaves behind a clear shield that prevents future tarnishing (yep, like our other picks). The package suggests each wipe can clean two to four pieces, and that is consistent with our testing—we tried one wipe on three pieces of silverware and had excellent results.

They are by far the least messy, but we do recommend cleaning with gloves or else you may have a little tarnish on your hands (and note that the process does involve wetting your silver pieces first). Also, these wipes are formulated for cleaning silver jewelry, but they’re not safe to use on gold, diamonds, and other stones.

_{Type: Wipes | For Use On: Silver}