When manufacturing a silicon solar cell (1) from polycrystalline material, an antireflection coating (9) is used prior to annealing in oxygen as a catalyst for an annealing stage in hydrogen which catalytically decomposes the molecular hydrogen into atomic hydrogen. The atomic hydrogen then penetrates the emitter (2) and the base (3) of the silicon cell (1) and retards intrinsic crystal defects here, thus increasing the efficiency of the silicon solar cell (1). Unlike hydrogen retardation in a hydrogen plasma or ion implanation, the catalytically generated hydrogen does not cause any damage to the surfaces of the silicon solar cell (1).