The problem is that ArcGISTiledMapServiceLayer is a DependencyObject and not a FrameworkElement.With Silverlight 3, a property must be a FrameworkElement dependency property in order to be a binding target.Your code should work by reversing the binding:<Slider x:Name="slider1" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" VerticalAlignment="Top" Maximum=".7" LargeChange="0.1" SmallChange="0.05" Minimum=".1"
Value="{Binding ElementName=map1, Path=Layers[1].Opacity, Mode=TwoWay}" />
<esri:Map Background="White" Grid.Row="1" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" Margin="0,0,0,0" Name="map1" VerticalAlignment="Stretch" >
<esri:Map.Layers>
<esri:ArcGISTiledMapServiceLayer ID="StreetMapLayer" Url="http://server.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/ESRI_StreetMap_World_2D/MapServer"/>
<esri:ArcGISTiledMapServiceLayer ID="TopoMap" Opacity="0.1" Url="http://server.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/NGS_Topo_US_2D/MapServer" />
</esri:Map.Layers>
</esri:Map>Dominique