In present study, a steam distillation method has been adopted for extraction of the essential oil from Vietnamese lemon (Citrus aurantifolia)peel harvested from Tien Giang Province, Vietnam. Various extraction conditions influencing the oil yield were investigated. The resultingessential oil was evaluated for physico-chemical characteristics and antibacterial activities. The chemical composition of oil was investigatedby GC-MS. The results showed that with grinded lemon peel, a ratio of water and lemon peels of 3:1 (mL/g), extraction time of 90 min at120 ºC, the highest essential oil yield was attained at 2.1 %. Bioactive components found at high content included limonene (64.90 %), γ-terpinene (13.70 %), β-pinene (11.89 %), α-pinene (2.11 %), β-cymene (1.80 %) and sabinen (1.52 %). The lemon essential oil in thisstudy was found to inhibit five bacteria strains including Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella entericaand Pseudomonas aeruginosa.