The series of pyridinium (1-10) and quinolinium (11-20) stilbene benzenesulfonates have been synthesized and their structures were investigated by UV-vis, FT-IR and (1)H NMR spectroscopy. In addition, compound 5 was also determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction technique. The antibacterial activity of the synthesized compounds against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria has been determined. The quinolinium derivatives exhibited two very potent characteristic activities, namely, (i) specific activity to Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus and (ii) with broad band spectrum activity. Compounds 11, 13 and 14 are the most active showing broad spectrum antibacterial activity against gram-positive (Methicillin-Resistant S. aureus, S. aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus faecalis and E. faecalis) and gram-negative bacterium (Shigella sonnei). The MICs of these compounds were found to be better than that of Benzalkonium chloride (BZK), the commercially used disinfectant.