To our knowledge little, if any, work has been done for the synthesis of ZnO NPs using aqueous stem extract of Ruta graveolens. Ruta graveolens is an odoriferous herb belonging to the family Rutaceae. Ruta graveolens is a well-known medicinal herb in ancient civilizations. It is used for clinical trials in many diseases such as seizure, cough, hypertension, and for wounding activities. The ingredient of Ruta graveolens is used in herbal veterinary medicine. In this study, we describe the use of R. graveolens (RG) as the reducing and stabilizing agent in the synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles at room temperature. The obtained ZnO nanoparticles were characterized by using PXRD, UV–visible spectroscopy, SEM, TEM, etc. Furthermore, synthesized ZnO nanoparticles were studied to evaluate their antibacterial and antioxidant properties.