Abstract A technique to fabricate isolated diamond particles with controllably embedded silicon-vacancy (Si-V) colour centres is described. Particle growth and Si doping are performed by microwave plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition (CVD) using silane as a source of impurity atoms. The Si-V centres have a strong narrow-band photoluminescence (PL) at room temperature. The dependence of PL intensity of the 738 nm zero-phonon line (ZPL) on silane concentration in the feed-gas mixture exhibits a pronounced maximum. A comparison of the PL and Raman spectra shows that there is an evident correlation between the ZPL intensity and the presence of structural defects and nondiamond carbon phases that act as nonradiative recombination centres suppressing radiative recombination. The results open the door for using the powerful CVD technique for large-scale production of photostable near-infrared single-photon emitters and noncytotoxic biomarkers.