The rise of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a critical challenge to global health as conventional antibacterial drugs increasingly lose their efficacy. The administration of conventional antibacterial drugs often suffers from incomplete absorption, resulting in reduced efficacy and the need for higher or more frequent dosing. To counteract this limitation, a zinc-aluminium double hydroxide-palmitic acid nanocomposite (ZnAl-LDH-PA) was developed as a pH-reactive carrier for controlled drug delivery. The ZnAl-LDH-PA nanocomposite was synthesised using the co-precipitation method. Structural characterisation confirmed the successful intercalation: Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) showed an increase in the basal spacing from 8.6 Å to 14.35 Å, while Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) confirmed the intercalation by the disappearance of the nitrate band at 1344 cm-¹, the appearance of a COO band at 1535 cm^-¹ and the appearance of symmetric and asymmetric alkane stretching peaks at 2915 cm^-¹ and 2847 cm^-¹. Energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) confirmed the incorporation of PA, with nitrogen absent and carbon making up 71.90% of the elemental composition. In addition, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area measurements increased from 4.82 m²/g for the LDH host to 21.35 m²/g after intercalation, indicating improved porosity. Drug release studies showed a pH-dependent behaviour, with the highest release efficiency (68%) observed at a pH of 4.8, while a slower sustained release behaviour was observed at a pH of 7.4. The ZnAl-LDH-PA nanocomposite exhibited remarkable antimicrobial activity and retained the efficacy of palmitic acid against Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus. Overall, the results show that ZnAl-LDH-PA nanocomposites are promising candidates for smart pH-responsive drug delivery systems. This work contributes to the further development of nanostructured carriers in pharmaceutical applications and provides a basis for further research into drug delivery.