Modern technological development has unavoidably resulted in more pollution, especially in aquatic environments. While extensively utilized in various industries, cationic dyes pose a significant threat to both the environment and human health, ranking among the most hazardous pollutants. When exposed to these dyes, one may experience skin irritation and allergic dermatitis because they are frequently mutagenic, toxic, carcinogenic, and resistant to biodegradation. The continued release of these dyes into the environment exacerbates human health and ecosystem concerns. This work investigates the possibility of eco-friendly zinc oxide nanoparticles, which are produced by the co-precipitation method from leaf extracts of the Dracaena trifasciata plant, also referred to as snake plant, for the elimination of the cationic dyes methylene blue and crystal violet. This work presents a novel approach for synthesizing eco-friendly zinc oxide nanoparticles using leaf extract from Dracaena trifasciata. To examine the eco-friendly zinc oxide nanoparticles, characterization studies were carried out using various instrumental methods. The best conditions for removing methylene blue and crystal violet were found through batch adsorption investigations, which produced removal percentages of 86 % and 88 %, respectively, under specific conditions. The eco-friendly zinc oxide nanoparticles achieved maximum adsorption capacity and effective removal of methylene blue and crystal violet dyes under the following conditions: a pH value of 10, nanoparticle concentration of 0.06 g, reaction time of 50 min, dye concentration of 50 mg/L, and reaction temperature of 40 °C. Isotherm investigations demonstrated that the adsorption of methylene blue dye by eco-friendly zinc oxide nanoparticles followed the Temkin isotherm model, whereas the adsorption of crystal violet dye followed the Freundlich isotherm model. The kinetic parameters describing the adsorption of methylene blue and crystal violet dye onto eco-friendly zinc oxide nanoparticles were identified as pseudo-first-order and Elovich models, respectively. Following the above-mentioned studies, eco-friendly zinc oxide nanoparticles were subjected to additional characterization in order to assess their potential for wastewater treatment.