Alternaria solani, the incitant of the early blight disease of tomato, is a highly damaging and prevalent disease in the majority of tomato-growing areas. Keeping into consideration of high disease occurrence and incidence of this disease in tomato crops, the present investigation was undertaken to develop an effective bio-management approach to combat A. solani. Initially, the studies were conducted to evaluate six multi-facial biocontrol isolates of Trichoderma species viz., Trichoderma harzianum AMUTH-1, T. harzianum AMUTH-2, T. harzianum AMUTH-3, T. asperellum (= T. viride) AMUTV-1, T. asperellum AMUTV-3 and T. virens (= Gliocladium virens) AMUTS-1 against A. solani in vitro. Among these antagonists, T. harzianum AMUTH-1 and T. asperellum AMUTV-3 exhibited the maximum inhibitory effect while T. virens AMUTS-1 was recorded as the least effective Trichoderma isolate. Interestingly, T. harzianum AMUTH-1 and T. asperellum AMUTV-3 were found to produce indole acetic acid, siderophore and possess high enzymatic activities (cellulase, chitinase, ligninase and protease) in vitro. Further, solid-state fermentation formulation of all the Trichoderma isolates were prepared for foliar application under field conditions with benchmarking of chemical fungicide, carbendazim. Foliar application of T. harzianum AMUTH-1 and T. asperellum AMUTV-3 formulations resulted in significant enhancement in the plant-growth parameters (16–24%) and tomato yield (21–22%), and 58–69% decline in early blight severity and 63 − 52% decrease in the phylloplane population of A. solani during two years of field trials. The study validated the efficacy of T. harzianum AMUTH-1 and T. asperellum AMUTV-3 as potential antagonists against the foliar pathogen (A. solani) and the effect was also at par with fungicide, carbendazim.