Display omitted ► Top down approach to generate soluble metal nanoparticles is discussed. ► The main technical aspects involved in sputtering deposition technique are presented. ► Sputtering deposition over ionic liquids, silicon oil and vegetable oils. ► The size of metal nanoparticles can be modulated by the sputtering conditions. ► The applications of these soluble metal nanoparticles such as in catalysis are presented. Nanoparticles (NPs) have recently attracted significant attention from the materials science community due to their promise to play an important role in developing new technologies. Indeed, NPs with small sizes, narrow size distributions and various shapes have been prepared via the reduction of organometallic compounds with molecular hydrogen, the decomposition of transition-metal complexes in the zero-valent state, metal bombardment or the simple transfer of previously prepared NPs from one liquid to another. This review paper will discuss the simple and quick method of sputtering deposition over liquid substrates to generate stable colloidal NPs. Initially, the sputtering phenomena will be presented in more detail, as well as the state-of-the-art in sputter deposition over both solid and liquid substrates. Then, special attention will be paid to sputtering onto ionic liquids (ILs), silicon oil and vegetable oils, and some selected results and the current mechanisms of NP formation will be discussed. Finally, applications of this new approach to synthesizing colloidal NPs will be shown.