The effect of soil mulching polyethylene and some biodegradable alternatives on weed control and tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum L.) growth and yield was evaluated. Eight treatments were established in a completely randomized design with four replications. The mulch treatments were rice harvest residues, maize harvest residues, wood sawdust, Kraft paper and silver-black no degradable polyethylene, untreated, hand weeding and herbicide (rimsulfuron+metribuzin). The effect of treatments on weeds and the development and yield of crop were determined. A difference in weed species was observed between treatments. To 63 days after the treatment the smaller cover of the soil by weeds was herbicide (1.92%), followed by hand weeding (1.50%), polythene (4.58%) and paper (14.67%). The vegetal mulches and the wood sawdust obtained values similar to each other, but smaller than polythene and paper. For the plots with vegetal mulches, weed control was similar among them. However, these results were significantly lower from the polyethylene and paper mulches. The best vegetative growth was obtained by plastic and paper mulches. However, biomass dry matter 45 days after transplanting was lower with polyethylene than the organic mulches. The polyethylene mulch gave the highest tomato yield, followed by paper and maize harvest residues mulches. Results show that paper and vegetal mulches could be excellent biodegradable alternatives for weed control and increasing growth and tomato yields in semiarid tropical regions.