Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and selected novel brominated flame retardants (NBFRs) were examined in road dust samples collected from three representative areas in northern Vietnam, including seven inner districts of Hanoi metropolitan area, an industrial park in Thai Nguyen province and a rural commune in Bac Giang province. This study aims to provide basic information on the contamination status, potential sources and human exposure to PBDEs and NBFRs associated with road dust in northern Vietnam. PBDEs were detected in all the samples at a range of 0.91–56 ng g−1 with a median value of 16 ng g−1. PBDE concentrations in road dusts from urban sites were significantly higher than those from industrial zone and rural area, suggesting their environmental load related to urbanization in northern Vietnam. BDE-209, major component of deca-BDE technical mixtures, dominated the congener patterns in all samples, accounting for 60.8–91.9% of total PBDE levels. Decabromodiphenyl ethane, an alternative of deca-BDE, was observed in a detection frequency of 100% in urban and industrial areas and at levels comparable to those of BDE-209. Other NBFRs such as pentabromoethylbenzene, hexabromobiphenyl and 1,2-bis-(2,4,6-tribromophenoxy)ethane, were found at trace levels. Daily intake doses of PBDEs via road dust ingestion from 2.3 × 10−5 to 0.11 ng kg-bw−1 d−1 were estimated for residents in study areas, indicating a negligible risk with hazard indexes of 10−9 to 10−5 for selected congeners such as BDE-47, 99, 153 and 209. Display omitted •The presence of PBDEs and some novel BFRs in Vietnamese road dusts was investigated.•PBDE and NBFR levels were higher in urban samples than industrial and rural ones.•BDE-209 was the most predominant PBDE congener in road dusts.•DBDPE was detected at levels comparable to BDE-209.•Road dust can contribute about 3% to total daily intake of PBDEs by Hanoi residents.