The present study aims to develop an easy and eco-friendly method for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles using extracts from the medicinal plant, Potentilla fulgens and evaluation of its anticancer and antimicrobial properties. The various parts of P. fulgens were screened and the root extract was found to have the highest potential for the synthesis of nanoparticles. The root extracts were able to quickly reduce Ag(+) to Ag(0) and stabilized the nanoparticles. The synthesis of nanoparticles was confirmed by UV-Visible spectrophotometry and further characterized using Zeta sizer, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Electron microscopic study showed that the size of the nanoparticle was in the range of 10 to 15 nm and spherical in shape. The studies of phytochemical analysis of nanoparticles indicated that the adsorbed components on the surface of nanoparticles were mainly flavonoid in nature. Furthermore, nanoparticles were evaluated as cytotoxic against various cancer cell lines and 0.2 to 12 μg/mL nanoparticles showed good toxicity. The IC50 value of nanoparticles was found to be 4.91 and 8.23 μg/mL against MCF-7 and U-87 cell lines, respectively. Additionally, the apoptotic effect of synthesized nanoparticles on normal and cancer cells was studied using trypan blue assay and flow-cytometric analysis. The results indicate the synthesized nanoparticle ability to kill cancer cells compared to normal cells. The nanoparticles also exhibited comparable antimicrobial activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria.