Ginger plant (Zingiber officinale) is known as one of the important medicinal plant and dietary substances that are rich in phytochemicals. It has been used as a food flavoring agent as well as for traditional oriental medicinal purposes for centuries. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the inhibition of growth and induction of apoptosis (in vitro) in breast cancer cell line (MCF-7) using ginger essential oil (GEO). For this purpose, cells were exposed to 0, 20, 60 and 100 µg/ml of GEO for 72 hr. Cell viability and cell proliferation were performed by using trypan blue and 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2yl)- 2,5-biphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assays. Cellular morphological changes were examined by phase contrast inverted microscopy. Furthermore, the mitochondrial transmembrane potential assay was evaluated by flow cytometry using tetramethylrhodamine, ethyl ester (TMRE) dye as an indicator of apoptosis. The results revealed that, human breast cancer cell line (MCF-7) was sensitive to the treatment with various GEO concentrations. Treatment of cells with GEO resulted in a reduction in cell viability, growth inhibition, distinct changes in cellular morphology and induction of apoptosis in a concentration dependent manner. The lowest percentage of viable cells was recorded as 20.68% at a concentration of 100 µg/ml of GEO. GEO was found to have cytotoxic activity against MCF-7 cells (in vitro) with an IC50 value of 10.12 µg/ml and induces apoptosis by loss of mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm). Our findings demonstrate that, GEO inhibited MCF-7 proliferation by inducing apoptosis and may have applications in the field of anticancer drug development.