The field of medical textiles, an antimicrobial textile in particular is interdisciplinary. Antimicrobial textiles are mainly used in medical and healthcare environments to control the proliferation of microorganisms. The present work is aimed to study the antimicrobial activity of the air plasma treated (PT) nonwoven polypropylene fabric coated with herbs, which can be used as wound dressing. Surface modification of the nonwoven polypropylene fabric was performed using air plasma. The air PT fabric was finished with the methanolic extracts of 11 medicinal herbs. Their antibacterial activities were analyzed against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Of these, three herbs namely Ficus bengalensis, Cleome viscosa, and Areca catechu showed good activity against S. aureus and Escherichia coli. The antibacterial activity of the air PT polypropylene fabric coated with 1 : 1 : 1 combination of the abovementioned herbs was also assessed as per AATCC 100 method and it was found to be 99%. The herbal finished fabric was tested against the predominant wound isolates by agar diffusion method. The results showed excellent antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus sp., good antibacterial activity against Bacillus sp., Escherichia sp., Klebsiella sp., Pseudomonas sp., Serratia sp., and Proteus sp. thus proving its potential as wound dressing. (c) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013