OBJECTIVE This work intended to evaluate the frequency of Gardnerella vaginallis in cervicalvaginal smears of hysterectomized women when compared to smears of non-hysterectomized women. METHODS A retrospective study was conducted in the laboratory of pathology of the Western São Paulo University - Unoeste and 39,447 cervical/vaginal cytology reports were reviewed. Of these, 1934 women were totally hysterectomized and 37,513 were non-hysterectomized. Only data from Gardnerella vaginalis patients were collected (n=755) among the non-hysterectomized patients. RESULTS There was a predominance of Lactobacillus species (60% of the cases) in the vaginal microbiota of hysterectomized patients with an incidence of Gardnerella vaginalis in 7.08% of the cases with a prevalence among the 41 to 50 year old age group (38 %). Among non-hysterectomized patients, 755 (2 %) had Gardnerella vaginalis and most patients were under 40 years of age (62%). CONCLUSIONS Hysterectomized women are more than 3.71 times more likely to have Gardnerella vaginalis. Gardnerella vaginalis predominated in the 41 to 50 year old age group of hysterectomized women, and in the group of non-hysterectomized women with less than 40 years of age. Maintenance of the vaginal pH is important to prevent Gardnerella vaginalis infections and hysterectomized patients must take preventive care against this infection.