Saponins of fresh ginseng roots were purified by repeated silicic acid column and thin-layer chromatographies from butanolextractable fraction of the roots. Surface activities of the purified saponins were characterized by measuring surface tensions of their aqueous solutions employing capillary-rise method. It was observed that surface tension cf water was lowered down to ca. 50 erg/㎠ at room temperature by these saponins and reached almost minima at the concentrations ranging from 0.05 to 0.2% saponins. Critical micellar concentrations approximated from the reflection points on the surface tension curves were 0.05, 0.05, 0.2, and 0.2% respectively, which correspond to 0.5, 0.5, 2 and 2mM if the molecular weights of the saponins were assumed to be 1,000. It was also proved that butanol-extractable fraction obtained from fresh ginseng in this study could be served as a desirable saponin mixture with little impurities and as a good source for saponin purifications. Fresh ginseng roots were found to contain four major saponins in their butanol extract.