Analysis of patents, publications and our own experimental data concerning thermally developed photographic materials based on silver organic salts (AgO₂C_xH_2x−1, x = 10–22) makes it possible to outline the prospects of their future development as well as the trends in the scientific activity devoted to optimizing these materials. The study of the competing processes of the catalytic thermal development of silver carboxylates, in conjunction with the developing agents, and catalytic thermal degradation of silver carboxylates in the absence of developers, has revealed that radical reactions play a significant role in these processes. Because the formation of radicals adversely affect the stability of thermally developed materials we have found that it is very important to use developing agents that are inhibitors of radical processes. We have studied the effect of the composition and ingredient ratios in the photosensitive films on the sensitivity of thermally developed photographic papers (TDPP), both spectrally and chemically sensitized. The correlation between structure and the developing ability of reducing agents used in TDPP is established. The sensitivity of TDPP can be increased both through the modification of the light-sensitive composition with benzotriazolidophosphate and through increasing the efficiency of sulfur sensitization with amines. Also, boric acid is found to be an efficient crosslinking agent for the polymer binder in TDPP, polyvinylbutyral. In addition, high stability of TDPP can be achieved by using a reducing agent encapsulated within a polyvinylacetate caplet.