Available online at www.scholarsresearchlibrary.com Scholars Research Library Annals of Biological Research, 2010, 1 (3) :200-209 (http://scholarsresearchlibrary.com/archive.html) ISSN 0976-1233 CODEN (USA): ABRNBW 200 Scholars Research Library Essential Oil: Production for Health Care in Current Scenario Atul Katiyar* 1 , Dhananjay Singh 2 and B.N. Mishra 1 1 Department of Biotechnology, I.E.T. Lucknow, Lucknow 2 Department of Chemical Engineering, I.E.T. Lucknow, Lucknow ABSTRACT Essential oils are complex mixtures of many natural components contains volatile aroma compounds extracts from fragrant plants. It can be extracted from different part of the plant, like leaves, grasses, flowers, wood and shrubs. The chemical properties of these aromatic substances may be due to different chemical compounds. These have medicinal, therapeutic and antimicrobial properties. Essential oil has been obtained from plant by the distillation technique at ancient time. But due to less amount of essential oil present in aromatic medicinal plant. Steam distillation, solvent extraction and supercritical fluid extraction are used to extraction of essential oil for better oil recovery. Oil percent can be evaluated by gas liquid chromatography (GLC) and molecular structures identified by gas liquid mass spectroscopy (GC-MS). The qualities of essential oil depend on both the cultivation of the herbs and extraction process of oils from the plants. Natural compounds are source of safer or more effective substitutes for artificial pesticides and also provide an alternative way to prevent cure diseases. Large scale productions of aromatic plants are good source of earning of farmers. It can be play important role for the growth and economy of the country. Key words: Antimicrobial activity, Distillation, SFE, Terpenoids and Fragrance. INTRODUCTION In India, out of the total medicinal raw material, 90% is collected from the forests that are controlled by government. The proper utilization of medicinal plant resources requires a comprehensive approach. There are various issues that are relevant to this area of activity. This includes quantitative and taking economic valuation, standardization in terms of therapeutic and