Rosa canina L. (Rosaceae) is one of the most widespread wild species of the genus Rosa. It is well known that rosehips of R. canina are rich source of various bioactive compounds such as vitamins (especially vitamin C), phenolic compounds (especially flavonoids), carotenoids and fatty acids, with potential positive effect on human health. The aim of this study was to characterize the volatile compounds of R. canina hips originating from Croatia. The volatile compounds together with non-volatile compounds are responsible for taste and for the flavour of fruits. Hydrodistillation is the most used method for the essential oils isolation, i.e. volatile compounds. The isolation of volatile compounds from R. canina fruits was performed by distillation in modified Clevenger type apparatus. In this study, three samples were used for the isolation of volatiles: the entire rosehips, seeds only and fleshy pulp only. The chemical composition of the essential oils was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The dominating compound in R. canina essential oil, obtained from entire rosehips, was norisoprenoid vitispirane followed by ketone 6-methylhept-5-en-2-one. Vitispirane was also identified in R. canina fruit pulp, but in much smaller amount, while the content of 6-methylhept-5-en-2-one was almost the same like in entire rosehips. Other quantitatively important components in this sample were C9 – C22 hydrocarbons, and aldehydes hex-2-enal, furfural and hept-2-enal. The essential oil isolated from R. canina seeds was characterized by a high content of phenylacetaldehyde, moderate content of benzyl isothiocyanate and absence of vitispirane and 6-methylhept-5-en-2-one. Regarding terpenes, the typical constituents of essential oils, monoterpene limonene was dominated component in all essential oils. The samples were tested on the antioxidant activity using DPPH (2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) method. The antioxidant activity of all tested samples was very low (≤12,42 %). Low antioxidant properties of essential oils can be attributed to its chemical composition.