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Abstract Background Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) are important arthropod vectors that are responsible for transmitting numerous pathogens of major diseases. Adult mosquito traps help in effective surveillance. In this study, we compared the efficacy of the Biogents® Sentinel (BGS) traps and CO2-baited CDC traps for adult mosquito collection within four sites in India. Results We found that BGS traps collected significantly more Culex quinquefasciatus and Aedes aegypti mosquitoes (85.8% of the total catch) than CDC traps (14.9% of the total catch). We also conducted a follow-up experiment to study the effect of adding CO2 as bait along with the BG lure to determine if it increases the number of mosquitoes collected. The results showed that BGS traps with BG lure + CO2 collected significantly more mosquitoes (69.5% of the total catch) than BGS traps with BG lure only (30.5% of the total catch). Although BGS traps were developed for surveillance of Ae. albopictus (Skuse) and Ae. aegypti (L.), the traps collected more Cx. quinquefasciatus (Say.) than any other mosquito species. Conclusion BGS trap is an efficient surveillance tool, and it can be used as part of an integrated mosquito management program by public health officials in order to combat mosquito-borne diseases.