Green synthesis is an ecofriendly novel technology and attractive research area for the production of metal oxide nanoparticles in bio-medical and chemical applications. The green perspective includes solvents, reductants or stabilizing agents obtained from a natural resource as they are non-toxic and ecofriendly. In this study, a sustainable green synthetic strategy to synthesize magnesium oxide nanoparticles by employing Costus pictus D. Don plant leaf extract as a reducing agent. The successful formation of magnesium oxide nanoparticles was confirmed by comprehensive characterization techniques. The presence of biomolecules and metal oxides were confirmed by Fourier transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectral data analysis. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) revealed the formation of pure cubic MgO crystalline nanoparticles. The surface morphology of MgO particles observed by Scanning electron microscope (SEM) showed the hexagonal-shaped MgO crystallites. The average size of biosynthesized MgO nanoparticles was measured to be around 50 nm by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The mechanism for the formation of MgO nanoparticles was suggested in this study. The biosynthesized magnesium oxide particles showed good antimicrobial and exhibited maximum inhibition rate for MgO nanoparticles at 200 mu g showing efficient anticancer activity. (C) 2018 The Society of Powder Technology Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. and The Society of Powder Technology Japan. All rights reserved.