Limited availability, lower shelf life, and lack of suitable technologies are major drawbacks for the limited utilization of Ziziphus fruit in processing industry. This study was carried out with the aim to enhance the shelf-life and retain the economic importance of Ziziphus by using spray drying process for Ziziphus powder production. Maltodextrin used as wall material in different concentrations and inlet air temperature were taken as independent variables to study their effect on major powder responses i.e., powder yield, water activity, color properties, vitamin-C, total flavonoid content, and total antioxidant activity. Lower encapsulant quantity (10-15%) was inefficient in limiting the degrading impact of temperature on bioactive compounds. Higher encapsulant quantity of 25% had masking effect on bioactives concentration and their associated activity retention. Therefore, 170°C inlet air temperature, 20% maltodextrin concentration and 60ml/h feed flow rate were optimized to obtain 22.30 ± 3.09% for producing commercially viable powder with lowest water activity (0.295 ± 0.02), best color retention (L* 88.52 ± 0.70, a* 1.13 ± 0.49, b* 12.25 ± 0.62), highest bioactive retention (vitamin C 14.56 ± 0.59 mg/100g, flavonoid content 388.00 ± 0.46 mg/100g) and associated functional activity (antioxidant activity 1.89 ± 0.56 to 2.10 ± 0.50/g).