The electronic and transport properties for armchair-edge silicene nanoribbons (ASiNR) with effective spin–orbit coupling and potential energy were investigated by using the non-equilibrium Green's function method. The energy gaps and the conductance for ASiNRs can be effectively modulated by effective spin–orbit coupling λSO and the potential energy V0. With increasing λSO, the energy gap for 6-ASiNR and 7-ASiNR decreases, while it remains zero for metallic 8-ASiNR. Interestingly, an energy gap appears for 8-ASiNR in presence of V0, which results in the appearance of a conductance gap for 8-ASiNR system. Additionally, the dependence of conductance on Anderson disorder strength has been studied.