A cosmetic skin-care composition containing as the active principle a depigmentationally active combination of (a) an acidic mixture including (i) at least one alpha-hydroxylated acid or a derivative thereof, with the exception of ascorbic acid, and (ii) at least one compound selected from the group which consists of kojic acid, caffeic acid, azelaic acid, aminobutyric acid, fusaric acid, 5-hydroxy 2-hydroxymethyl-gamma-pyridone, and derivatives thereof, and (b) at least one active component of a plant extract from at least one plant selected from white mulberry, liquorice, skull cap, grapefruit, birch, heather, strawberry tree, bearberry, lemon, lettuce, oarweed, cucumber, ginseng, hop, sweet corn, feverfew, sage, soya, elder, spirulina, lime, ferocious aloe, yukinoshita, bloodwort, hoelen, wood rose, alpha-orizanol, burnet, ginkgo biloba, tanlex VB and Eclipsa alba, with the proviso that when the composition contains kojic acid and a liquorice extract, it contains at least one other plant extract component. The use of said composition for preparing a drug or in a cosmetic method is also disclosed.