Background Medicinal plants have been the mainstay for the treatment of various diseases since antiquity. The importance of ethnomedicinal plants in drug discovery and development can never be overemphasized. Breonadia salicina (Vahl) Hepper and J.R.I.Wood (Rubiaceae) is a medium to a large plant that is widely distributed in the tropical and subtropical regions; the leaf, stem bark, and the root have been used in folk medicine for the treatment of cancer, arthritis, inflammation, wound infections, fever, diarrhoea, and vomiting. Studies showed that the plant contains several phytochemical compounds, some of which were isolated in their pure form from various parts of the plant. The compounds isolated include ursolic acid, α-amyrin, stigmasterol, and sitosterol. Other essential compounds isolated were 7-(β-d-apiofuranosyl-(1 → 6)-β-d-glucopyranosyl) umbelliferone (Adicardin), 7-hydroxycoumarin, and 6-hydroxy-7-methoxycoumarin. Literature works on B. salicina are limited, and information regarding its nutritional value is lacking. However, the leaf of the plant is used as food preservative. Main body This review is a compilation of information obtained from scholarly databases including ScienceDirect, ResearchGate, Sci-Hub, Wiley Online Library, and Google Scholar using search keywords related to the topic of the review. The articles were selected based on the year of publication, which was from 2010 to 2021, but some older references were still be included in this review because some data in recent articles were cited from older sources. This review focuses on the ethnomedicinal uses of this plant as well as the underpinning experimental evidence of its pharmacological activities such as antibacterial, antifungal, and anti-trypanasomal activities. Conclusion There is a need to explore the potentials of this plant by initially isolating and characterizing the bioactive compounds and then subsequently evaluating its various pharmacological activities and be considered for further development to a novel therapeutic compound.