This study was conducted to improve tenderness and overall quality of less tender buffalo meat using different marinades. Semitendenosus muscles from 2-3 years old bull buffaloes were cut into chunks 3 x 3 x 3 cm and marinated with either ginger extract (GE) 1.5% and NaCl 1.5% or lemon juice (LJ) 3% and NaCl 1.5% or Sodium tri-polyphosphate (STPP) 0.4% and NaCl 1.5% or distilled water 20% as control (C) for 24 hours at refrigerator shelf (5ºC). All groups were subjected to various physico-chemical and sensory evaluations. The sensory evaluation showed marked (p < 0.05) increase in flavour scores for GE and LJ marinated samples, while higher scores of tenderness and juiciness were noticed in GE and STPP marinated samples. Shear force values indicated significant reduction (p < 0.05) in the values of GE (10.28), LJ (10.57) and STPP (9.67) marinated samples. Cooking loss of the STPP marinated samples reduced significantly (p < 0.05) compared with control, GE and LJ marinated samples. A marked decrease (p < 0.05) in the aerobic plate count, psychrotrophic bacterial count and pH of LJ marinated samples were recoded. Electrophoretic pattern of muscle proteins revealed extensive proteolysis and reduction in the number of protein bands in GE and LJ marinated samples. TBARS decreased significantly (p < 0.05) in GE and STPP marinated samples. The results obtained during this study pointed out that the use of GE, LJ or STPP marination solution could be an effective method of alleviating toughness associated with buffalo meat and improving the overall acceptability of buffalo meat eating quality.