<p>In recent years, the use of plant hormone, salicylic acid (SA) and stress-modulating agent, chitosan (Ch), has gained significant attention for their role in mitigating abiotic stresses across various plant species. These treatments have been shown to play a vital role in enhancing the ascorbate-glutathione cycle and eliciting a wide range of plant growth and biomass, photosynthetic efficiency, oxidative stress and response of antioxidants and other physiological responses. The current investigation is to assess the beneficial effects of SA (0.5 mM) as a foliar spray and Ch (100 mg L^⁻1) as a soil drench applications in wheat (<i>Triticum aestivum</i> L.) cultivated in cadmium (Cd)-contaminated soil (100 µM cadmium chloride, CdCl₂). Our results showed that the Cd toxicity in the soil showed a significant declined in the growth, gas exchange attributes, sugars, AsA-GSH cycle, cellular fraction ation, proline metabolism and soil microbial diversity in <i>T. aestivum</i>. However, Cd toxicity significantly increased oxidative stress biomarkers, health risk indicators, enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants including their gene expression in <i>T. aestivum</i> seedlings. Although, the application of SA and Ch showed a significant increase in the plant growth and biomass, gas exchange characteristics, enzymatic and non-enzymatic compounds and their gene expression, restoring microbial population-based diversity indices, also decreased the oxidative stress, Furthermore, health risk parameters, including the health risk index and daily intake of metals, were significantly reduced following SA and Ch application. These findings highlight the potential of SA and Ch as sustainable strategies for mitigating heavy metal toxicity and improving crop performance in contaminated soils, thereby contributing to environmentally resilient agricultural systems.</p> Graphical Abstract <p></p>