A dual-band planar dipole antenna, incorporated with a zigzag-shaped dual-band artificial magnetic conductor with gain enhancement, is proposed here. By using 5×9 AMC surface as substrate to the dipole antenna, the bidirectional radiation pattern of the dipole antenna is transformed to unidirectional radiation pattern. The separation distance between the dipole antenna and the AMC surface is λ/6 at 5.5 GHz. The proposed antenna has been fabricated and measured to verify the simulation results. The experimental results ensure good impedance matching (S₁₁ < −10 dB) over two frequency bands (i.e. 5.1–6.2 GHz and 6.75–7.24 GHz). The composite antenna also provides a maximum gain of 8.94 dB at 5.5 GHz with a gain variation of only 0.5 dB over the two operating frequency bands. In addition, the cross-polarization level is less than −15 dB for both E and H planes.