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The novel virus “severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)” has been responsible for the worldwide pandemic causing huge devastation and deaths since December 2019. The disease caused by this virus is known as COVID-19. The present study is based on immuno-informatics approach to develop a multi-epitope-loaded peptide vaccine to combat the COVID-19 menace. Here, we have reported the 9-mer CD8 T cell epitopes and 15-mer CD4 T cell epitopes, free from glycosylation sites, belonging to three proteins, viz . surface glycoprotein, membrane glycoprotein and envelope protein of this virus. Immunogenicity, aliphatic amino acid, antigenicity and hydrophilicity scores of the predicted epitopes were estimated. In addition, other physicochemical parameters, namely net charge, Boman index and amino acid contents, were also accounted. Out of all the epitopes, three CD8 T cell epitopes viz . PDPSKPSKR, DPSKPSKRS and QTQTNSPRR and three CD4 T cell epitopes viz . ASYQTQTNSPRRARS, RIGNYKLNTDHSSSS and RYRIGNYKLNTDHSS were found to be efficient targets for raising immunity in human against this virus. With the help of our identified potent epitopes, various pharma industries might initiate efforts to incorporate those epitopes with carrier protein or adjuvant to develop a multi-epitope-loaded peptide vaccine against SARS-CoV-2. The peptide vaccines are usually cost-effective and therefore, could be administered as a preventive measure to combat the spread of this disease. Proper clinical trials must be conducted prior to the use of identified epitopes as vaccine candidates. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00203-022-02845-6.