Plants and their byproducts have been used for the treatment of various diseases from the time immemorial. The current study was carried out to investigate the anticancer activity of ethanol extract of arial parts of Equisetum arvense (EA1). To check the anticancer potential of EA1, A549 lung carcinoma cells were treated with various concentrations of EA1 (100μg/mL, and 150μg/mL). The cell viability was checked using MTT assay, and apoptosis (programmed cell death) was assessed by acridine orange straining.. The results depicted that EA1 manifested cytotoxicity and decreased the cell viability of A549 cells in a concentration dependent manner. Moreover, EER induced apoptotic cell death as monitored using acridine orange staining. The results obtained suggest EA1 extracted from Equisetum arvense as a potential biological resource with pharmacological significance.