Raw municipal landfill leachate is extremely polluted wastewater and it regards as one of the drawbacks of the sanitary landfill treatment method. If the untreated landfill leachate is discharged to the natural environment, a great problem for the environment can be created, particularly for the water resources. To assess fresh leachate; collection, analyzing for various parameters, and comparing with the standards are essential. Thus, this study was purposed to examine the characteristics of different landfill leachate samples collected from three tropical landfill sites. The results of the formed leachate at the anaerobic Kulim Sanitary Landfill, semi-aerobic Pulau Burung Landfill Site, and anaerobic Kuala Sepetang landfill leachate in the northern region of Malaysia have been analyzed for 27 parameters and compared. The studied parameters in the present study were phenols, zeta potential, oxidation-reduction potential (ORP), chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), heavy metals, nitrogen compounds, salinity, electrical conductivity etc. For checking the risks of the leachate on the environment, the obtained results were compared with the Malaysia Standards. In addition, the leachate treatment opportunities upon the characterization are highlighted in this study. The effectiveness of various applications in treating leachate collected from municipal landfill was presented and discussed. It could be concluded that the knowledge of leachate quality is particularly significant in choosing an appropriate treatment techniques