This study was carried out to examine antimicrobial substances from medicinal plants, the ethanol extracts of 38 medicinal plants were tested for the antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923 and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 43300. The extracts of Glycyrrhiza uralensis, Sophora flavescens, Dryopteris crassirhizoma, and Pinas densiflora showed significant antimicrobial activities against both S. aureus ATCC 25923 and methicillin-resistant S. aureus ATCC 43300. The extract of Dryopteris crassirhizoma among these medical plants showed the highest antimicrobial activity. These results suggested that the extracts from Dryopteris crassirhizoma, Sophora flavescens, Pinas densiflora, and Glycyrrhiza uralensis could be the potential source of antimicrobial agents against methicillin-resistant S. aureus and S. aureus.