Vegetables play important role in food and nutritional security. Particularly, green leafy vegetables are considered as exceptional source for vitamins, minerals and phenolic compounds. Mineral nutrients like iron and calcium are high in leafy vegetables than staple food grains. Also, leafy vegetables are the only natural sources of folic acid, which are considerably high in leaves of Moringa oleifera plants as compared to other leafy and non-leafy vegetables. This paper reviewed nutritional and anti nutritional factors in some important common green leafy vegetables. The type and composition of nutritional and anti nutritional factors vary among genera and species of different edible leafy vegetables plants. Anti nutritional factors are chemical compounds in plant tissues, which deter the absorption of nutrients in humans. Their effects can be direct or indirect and ranges from minor reaction to death. Major anti nutritional factors such as nitrates, phytates, tannins, oxalates and cyanogenic glycosides have been implicated in various health-related issues. Different processing methods such as cooking and blanching can reduce the contents of anti-nutritional factors. This paper also discussed in brief the various analytical methods for the determination of the various nutritional and anti-nutritional factors in some green leafy vegetables.