On 8 September 2015, in his first appearance with the under-21 side, Silva scored a hat-trick in 19 minutes (both halves combined), contributing to a 6–1 win against Albania for the 2017 European Under-21 Championship qualifiers. He was called up for the first time to the senior team by head coach Fernando Santos the following 26 August, playing the second half of a 5–0 friendly victory over Gibraltar in Porto on 1 September.