The aim of this study was to analyze the chemical composition of essential oil isolated from the floral parts of Silene armeria L. by hydrodistillation and to test the efficacy of essential oil and the various leaf extracts against a diverse range of microorganisms comprising food spoilage and food-borne pathogenic bacteria. The chemical composition of essential oil was analyzed by the GC–MS. It was determined that 28 compounds, which represented 89.03% of total oil, were present in the oil. The oil contained mainly methylamine (21.48%), α-butene (17.97%), β-butene (46.40%), coumaran (0.22%), eugenol (0.21%), β-humulene (0.07%), farnesol (0.05%) and linalool (0.12%). The essential oil (5 μl/ml, corresponding to 1,000 ppm/disc) and various leaf extracts of methanol, ethyl acetate, chloroform and hexane (7.5 μl/ml, corresponding to 1,500 ppm/disc) exhibited promising antibacterial effect against Bacillus subtilis ATCC6633, Listeria monocytogenes ATCC19166, Staphylococcus aureus KCTC1916, S. aureus ATCC6538, Pseudomonas aeruginosa KCTC2004, Salmonella typhimurium KCTC2515, Salmonella enteritidis KCTC2021, Escherichia coli O157-Human, E. coli ATCC8739, E. coli O57:H7 ATCC43888 and Enterobacter aerogenes KCTC2190. The zones of inhibition of different concentrations of essential oil and the various leaf extracts against the tested bacterial pathogens were found in the range of 10–19 and 7–13 mm, respectively, along with their respective MIC values ranging from 125 to 1,000 and 250–2,000 μg/ml. Also, the essential oil had a potential effect on the viable count of the tested bacteria. The results of this study suggest that the essential oil and leaf extracts derived from S. armeria could be used for the development of novel types of antibacterial agents to control food spoilage and food-borne pathogens.