A conductive paste for a photovoltaic cell and a method for producing the photovoltaic cell are disclosed. The conductive paste includes a silver powder, glass frit and a sintering inhibitor that suppresses sintering of the silver powder. The sintering inhibitor contains at least one substance selected from aluminum oxide, silicon oxide and silicon carbide. The method includes forming a first anti-reflective layer on a first region of a main surface of a semiconductor substrate; forming a second anti-reflection layer on a second region of the main surface which is different from the first region; coating the electrically conductive paste onto the second anti-reflective layer on the second anti-reflection layer; and forming a surface electrode in the second region by reacting the second anti-reflection layer with the electrically conductive paste at an elevated temperature.