In this letter, a design with both metal nanoparticles and back diffraction gratings is put forward for enhancing the efficiency of thin film silicon solar cells. The coupling mechanism between the metal nanoparticles and silicon absorber layer, and that between the incident light and the modes of the silicon absorption layer through the grating layer are both analyzed. The interaction between the front metal nanoparticles and back gratings is analyzed, which substantially increases the light tr