Oral cavity is a propitious environment for growth of several bacteria that are responsible for periodontal diseases and dental caries. Moreover, studies have been associated oral bacteria with various systemic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, intestinal diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, adverse effects on pregnancy, diabetes etc. Bacterial resistance is a great problem that has motivated the development of bioactive compounds, so the plants had shown a promising source of the antimicrobial compounds. Schefflera macrocarpa is from Araliaceae family, known as wild cassava, and distributed in Cerrado (Brazilian savannah). It has been popularly used as analgesic. Some studies about "Schefflera" species have demonstrated its antimicrobial activity and attributed to oleanane-type of saponins. This work presents the antibacterial activity of extract from leaves of S. macrocarpa against some oral bacteria. Leaves (693 g) were collected in Montes Claros-MG region, and an ethanolic extract was prepared by maceration using ethanol 95% (4.0%) and submitted to liquid-liquid partitions with solvents of increasing polarity. The 95 % ethanol extract (EE) (25.0 g) was dissolved in methanol:water (9:1) to yield the following partitions: hexane (H) (1.46 g, 5.84%), dichloromethane (D) (1.04, 4.16%), ethyl acetate (EA) (2.50 g, 10.0%), n-butanol (n-B) (8.95 g, 35.8%) and water (W) (0.46 g, 1.84%). Phytochemical prospection was developed using: NP/PEG (flavonoids), Iodocloroplatinum and Dragendorff (alkaloids), Anisaldehyde (terpenes, steroids, phenol and sugars), Liebermann (terpenes and steroids) and Vanillin sulfuric (terpenoids, tannins, flavonoids and saponins). Alkaloids were not identified in any fractions, but the others class of compounds showed presents in AE-fraction and with lower intensity, in H, D and n-B fractions. For the W fraction, none of the classes of metabolites evaluated was observed. The antimicrobial activity was evaluated by broth microdilution method and the results were expressed in Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC). The antibacterial activity is considered good for MIC below 100 μg/mL and moderate between 100 and 500 μg/mL. The extract and fractions presented moderate antibacterial activity. EE presented more activity against anaerobic bacteria: Porphyromonas gingivalis, Fusobacterium nucleatum and Actinomyces naeslundii (MIC= 200, 100 and >400 μg/mL, respectively). Regarding the fractions, H-fraction presented lower MIC values against aerobic bacteria: Streptococcus mutans, Streptococcus mitis, Streptococcus sanguinis (MIC= <400, 200 and >100 μg/mL, respectively), indicating greater activity. For anaerobic bacteria: P. gingivalis, F. nucleatum and A. naeslundii, D-fraction (MIC= 400, 200 and 400 μg/mL, respectively) and AE-fraction (MIC= 200, 100 and >400 μg/mL, respectively) showed the best result. Therefore, S. macrocarpa is a promising specie of bioactivity compounds in the antibacterial activity against oral bacteria.