In recent years, significant toxicity of silver ions (Ag+) to the environment and human body has garnered attention to their detection in biological samples and aqueous solutions. In this work, we synthesized boron/nitrogen-doped carbon dots (LBN-CDs) as a fluorescent sensor with excellent selectivity for silver ions (Ag+) detection. First, a one-pot microwave-assisted approach was employed to directly develop nitrogen-doped carbon dots (N-CDs) from L-ascorbic acid and L-glutamine. Subsequently, boron co-doping on the N-CDs were achieved by reaction with boric acid, and the quantum yield was determined to be ∼34 ± 1.8 %. Bright green fluorescence and strong water solubility, including favorable photostability properties, salt tolerance, and pH stability, were demonstrated by the resulting LBN-CDs. It was found that adding Ag+ ions through electron transfer to create a nonfluorescent complex had quenched the fluorescence intensity of the LBN-CDs. With a detection limit (LOD) of ̴ 3.7 ± 0.18 nM, the silver ions in this case quenched the photoluminescence (PL) of the LBN-CDs more strongly than other heavy metals, which indicated that the synthesized LBN-CDs can be effectively used as Ag+ ions sensing probe with high sensitivity and selectivity. The examination of Ag+ ions in real water samples further confirmed the efficiency of this fluorescent probe in sensing silver ions. Further, using mouse fibroblast cell line, NIH-3T3, LBN-CDs were found to be cyto-compatible and have good bioimaging properties. LBN-CDs will therefore be a promising cell imaging agent and platform for selectively detecting Ag+ ions in water via nano-sensing.