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Solanum sisymbriifolium (Solanaceae) and Jatropha gossypifolia (Euphorbiaceae) have long been used in folkloric medicine for the treatment of various ailments. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the cytotoxic activity of the plants and to make available the process of data analysis of cytotoxic studies to the researchers. A general toxicity of the extracts was assessed by a simple and low cost assay using brine shrimp lethality as an indicator of toxicity. Ethanol crude extract and fractions of the extract of leaves of Solanum sisymbriifolium exhibited relatively mild cytotoxic activity compared to that of flowers and fruits against brine shrimp larvae with median lethal concentration, LC sub( 50) values ranging from 10.10 - 321.35 and 13.19 - 80.16 mu g/ml, respectively. Methanol crude extract and fractions of the extract of leaves of Jatropha gossypifolia exhibited significant toxicity against the shrimps (LC50 values 17.19 - 98.19 mu g/ml), while that of potassium permanganate, a positive control, was 11.27 mu g/ml. Among the fractions of the crude extracts of both plants, non-polar fractions such as n-hexane, chloroform, dichloromethane were the most cytotoxic. These results warrant follow-up through bioassay directed isolation of the active principles.