BACKGROUND: The effective exploitation of plants as a biorenewable resource has very important significance for sustainable development. Broom (Cytisus scoparius) has been used and associated with healthy benefits in the Iberian Peninsula for a long time. With this in mind, different technologies, alone or in combination, have been proposed to obtain valuable compounds from broom branches. RESULTS: Composition showed a seasonal variation. Periods that lead to higher content of extractives were selected to design a combined autohydrolysis and supercritical CO2 extraction process for the production of antioxidants. The autohydrolysis process leads to higher yields than conventional solvent extraction and SC-CO2 extraction produced a raffinate with radical scavenging capacity comparable with ethanolic extracts. The major bioactive compounds identified in extracts were flavonoids, phenolic acids and phenolic aldehydes. CONCLUSIONS: An extraction process resulting from a combination of solvent extraction and autohydrolysis increased the extraction yields and the recovery of extracts containing bioactive compounds suitable for use in food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical applications. The knowledge gained from this study should be helpful to further exploit and apply this resource. (C) 2016 Society of Chemical Industry