Essential oil composition of the leaves of Viola odorata L. growing wild in Kashan, central Iran, was extracted by hydro distillation–solvent extraction method and analysed using GC–MS technique. The analysis revealed the presence of 25 identified compounds, representing 92.77% of the oil with butyl-2-ethylhexylphthalate (30.10%) and 5,6,7,7a-tetrahydro-4,4,7a-trimethyl-2(4H)-benzofuranone (12.03%) being the two main components. Several components were identified for the first time in this chemotype of V. odorata. Antioxidant and antibacterial activities of the oil, methanol and chloroform extracts were also evaluated for the first time in this research work.