Essential oil from the rhizomes of two types of Curcuma longa, yellow and red originated in Bangladesh was analyzed by GC-MS. 54 compounds have been identified from the yellow type of which the major compounds are ar-tumerone (27.78%), tumerone (17.16%), culone (13.82%), 2-carene (4.78%), zingiberene (4.37%) and β-sesquiphellandrene (5.57%). The red type contained 39 compounds with carvacrol (21.14%), citral (13.91%), methyleugenol (7.31%), geraniol (6.99%), menthol (5.11%) and caryophyllene oxide (4.14%) as major constituents. Key words: Curcuma longa, GC-MS, Ar-tumerone, Carvacrol, Tumerone, Citral. DOI: 10.3329/bjsir.v43i2.970 Bangladesh J. Sci. Ind. Res. 43(2), 259-266, 2008