Salivary components in the pellicle mediate bacterial adherence to the tooth. Such components may also aggregate bacteria in saliva and prevent them becoming established in dental plaque. In the present study, the adherence and aggregation of Streptococcus mutans strain Ingbritt, S. sanguis strain 10556 and Actinomyces viscosus-strain 19246 mediated by parotid and whole saliva from groups of young and elderly people were examined. Significant differences were found between test strains, salivary secretions and age groups. S. sanguis 10556 and A. viscosus 19246 generally adhered more strongly than S. mutans Ingbritt, which adhered better to pellicles from parotid saliva than from whole saliva Strain 19246 bound in higher numbers to parotid saliva pellicles from elderly compared to young individuals. Strain 10556 adhered better to whole saliva than parotid saliva pellicles, and the difference was significant among the young individuals, indicating reduced adherence ability in elderly whole saliva. The streptococci were aggregated by parotid and whole saliva, and S. sanguis aggregation was less with whole saliva from the elderly than from the young participants. Besides a correlation between whole saliva aggregation of S. mutans and proportions of bacteria in plaque, no correlations were found for the individual binding properties of saliva and prevalence of bacteria in vivo. However, the level of saliva-mediated adherence in vitro was in the following order: S. mutans. Actinomyces S sanguis, which corresponded to their isolation frequency in plaque. These findings emphasize the importance of initial adherence to salivary receptors in bacterial colonization on teeth. Further studies are needed to reveal if individual patterns in the in vitro binding characteristics of saliva lead to variation of colonization in vivo.