BACKGROUND Breast cancer is becoming the most common cancer among women in the world. It is estimated that about 2.1 million new cases were diagnosed in the year 2018. When breast cancer is detected early, there is a good chance of cure. Early detection of the disease remains the cornerstone of breast cancer control. Breast self-examination (BSE) and awareness have a major role in early detection of this cancer. The purpose of this study was to determine the awareness of breast cancer & breast self-examination among the rural women in western India. METHODS This cross-sectional study was conducted in rural field practice area of Medical College in western India. Out of 19 villages three villages were selected by simple random sampling method and participants in the selected village were identified by systematic random sampling method. A standardized Marathi questionnaire was used, containing demographic profile, knowledge and impressions about breast cancer and BSE. Analysis was done by Microsoft excel 2007 and Epi Info 7.2. RESULTS Out of 522 women, 249 (47.70 %) were know or heard about breast cancer and only 111 (21.26 %) ever heard about breast self-examination (BSE). Out of 111 women ever heard about BSE only 12 (10.51 %) were performing BSE; of which 03 (2.87 %) were doing BSE daily, 03 were weekly, 04 were monthly and 02 were very rarely. Most of the women, 186 (76 %) perceived balanced diet was good for prevention of breast cancer, followed by breast self-examination 167 (68.42 %). Most of the 200 (81.87 %) women responded that medical treatment is the main treatment for breast cancer, followed by surgical treatment 142 (57.89 %), radiotherapy 127 (52 %), spiritual and traditional treatment was 14 - 20 (6 - 8 %). CONCLUSIONS Awareness about breast cancer was considerable but there was poor knowledge about BSE and risk factors among the rural women in western India. KEYWORDS Breast cancer, Breast self-examination, Awareness, Rural, Prevention