It is used as an antiinfective agent — topically to cauterize infected tissues around a skin wound and to help create a scab to stop bleeding from minor wounds.
It is used in halogen identification tests — silver nitrate solution can determine which halogen is present in a suspected halogenoalkane by converting the halogen into a halide ion and testing for it.
It is also used in biology for studying the Golgi apparatus, an organelle present in eukaryotic cells.