In this capacity, she tried to implement the so-called wine law, a project to prevent alcohol consumption among minors; she confronted Burger King and urged the company to withdraw advertising for XXL hamburgers; and she advocated for genetic selection of embryos for therapeutic purposes.

[10] From 2009 until 2011, Salgado served as minister of Economy and Finance and as first and second vice president of Spain, in the Socialist Party government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.

Amid a cabinet reshuffle,[11] she succeeded Pedro Solbes as Minister of Finance in April 2009 in what was considered a surprise move by Zapatero[12] and thereby became the first woman to hold this position.

[13] At the time, she was one of the few to have been in all of Zapatero's governments, alongside María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, Elena Espinosa and Miguel Ángel Moratinos.

[18][19] She also temporarily reinstated a wealth tax on people with net assets of more than €700,000 ($962,780) in 2011 and 2012, a measure designed to help close what was one of Europe's largest budget gaps at the time while easing widespread voter discontent with spending cuts.