Fish have always been considered to be an excellent source of protein, minerals and a low-fat product. The present study was carried out to evaluate the sensory, chemical and bacterial quality as well as proximate chemical composition of the wild Nile tilapia in comparison with the cultured one available in Assiut fish-sale markets. A total of 99 (50 wild and 49 cultured) samples of fresh Nile tilapiafish were randomly collected from different fish-sale markets in Assiut city. Sensory evaluation revealed that all of the wild and cultured tilapia samples were organoleptically accepted. The mean sensory score value of the cultured samples was significantly (P<0.05) higher than that of the wild. The pH, total volatile bases "TVB" (mg N/100g fish flesh) and thiobarbituric acid "TBA" (mg malonaldehyde/kg fish flesh) mean values were 6.81±0.03, 17.81±0.5 and 1.84±0.17 in wild tilapia and 6.79±0.02, 21.38±0.63 and 1.02±0.08 in cultured tilapia, respectively. The incidence of coliforms, fecal coliforms, E. coli and Cl. perfringenes in wild tilapia samples was 88, 34, 0 and 0%, while in cultured samples it was 83.67, 40.82, 2.02 and 6.12%, respectively. The results of proximate chemical composition percentages revealed that the mean values of moisture, protein, fat, ash and carbohydrate were significantly (P<0.05) different in wild than in cultured tilapia. The calculated gross energy mean value (Kcal/100g fish flesh) was higher in cultured (100.73±1.44) than in wild (83.29±0.06) tilapia with a significant (P<0.05) difference between them. From the obtained results it could be concluded that from the quality point of view wild Nile tilapia is better than the cultured one.