In the recent years, the role of alkaline phosphatase (AP) isozymes in the cause of neoplastic diseases such as breast, liver, renal and bone cancer has been confirmed and, thus they represent a novel target for the discovery of anticancer drugs. In this study different derivatives of thiazol-2-ylidene-benzamide were evaluated for their potential to inhibit alkaline phosphatase (AP) isozymes. Their anticancer potential was assessed using human breast cancer (MCF-7), bone-marrow cancer (K-562) and cervical cancer (HeLa) cell lines in comparison to normal cells from baby hamster kidney BHK-21. The results suggested that in comparison to other derivatives, compounds 2i, 2e and 2a showed more sensitivity towards human tissue non-specific alkaline phosphatase (h-TNAP). Among these, 2''-chloro-N-(3-(4'-fluorophenyl)-4-methylthiazol-2(3H)-ylidene) benzamide (2e) was found as the most potent and selective inhibitor for h-TNAP with an IC50 value of 0.079 ± 0.002 µM. Moreover, a significant correlation was observed between the enzyme inhibition profile and cytotoxic data. The compounds exhibiting maximum anticancer potential also induced maximum apoptosis in the respective cell lines. Furthermore, the DNA interaction studies exhibited the non-covalent mode of interaction with the herring sperm-DNA. Molecular docking studies also supported the in vitro inhibitory activity of potent compounds. Our findings suggested that potent and selective inhibitors might be useful candidates for the treatment or prevention of those diseases associated with the higher level of AP. Moreover, the study can be useful for the researcher to explore more molecular mechanisms of such derivatives and their analogues with the exact findings. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.