Plants are a natural resource of many complex and structurally diverse compounds. In the recent years, the acceptance of traditional herbal remedies for several diseases has led researchers to investigate the antimicrobial activity of medicinal plants. The present study was carried out to determine the content of phenolic compounds, flavonoids, alkaloids and tannins, comparing the antimicrobial spectrum of the various extracts of Euphorbia cotinifolia against different human pathogenic strains. The agar disc diffusion method was used to determine the antimicrobial properties of the extracts. Acetone and hexane extracts of Euphorbia cotinifolia showed potent antibacterial activity against Shigella boydii (mean diameter of growth inhibition zones was 18.90±1.67 mm and 19.60±1.45 mm), Escherichia coli (20.65±2.53 mm and 17.90±0.66 mm) and Salmonella typhimurium (16.73±3.91 mm and 17.10±0.9 mm). The present study ascertained the potency of Euphorbia cotinifolia as an antimicrobial agent.