Abstract Biodiesel production process encourages use of heterogeneous catalyst over homogeneous catalysts. The major problems associated with the use of homogeneous catalysts are its non-renewable nature, separation and washing which can be overcome by the use of heterogeneous catalysts. Therefore, in this work use of Musa balbisiana Colla peels, a waste biomass material has been used for preparing eco-friendly and highly effective heterogeneous base catalyst for sustainable biodiesel production. The peels of Musa balbisiana Colla have been characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), powder X-ray diffractograms (XRD), Energy Dispersive Analysis of X-ray (EDAX), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis. The conversion of the waste cooking oil into biodiesel was confirmed by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR), Carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance (13C NMR) and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (GC–MS) techniques. The peels of Musa balbisiana Colla furnished 100% conversion of waste cooking oil into biodiesel. Low cost, renewable heterogeneous catalyst from banana (Musa balbisiana Colla) peels can be developed for fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) production providing a new route for sustainability of fuels.