In this paper, a cleft-shaped multi-band multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna has been investigated with various defected ground-plane structure (DGS) for wideband operation of global positioning system (GPS) at L2 band (1,200 MHz) and long term evolution advanced (LTE-A) at tri-band (700 MHz, 1,800 MHz and 2,600 MHz) wireless applications. The DGS includes co-directional complementary split ring resonator (C-CSRR) and rhombus structures. Through appropriate placement of these DGS, the reflection coefficient is found to be less than-10 dB and the bandwidth is at least 200 MHz in all the structures. With the proposed structure, the envelope correlation coefficient (ECC) is found to be almost equal to zero for C-CSRR and rhombus shaped DGS at all the bands. © 2016 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.