The radical scavenging activity of methanol extracts of seaweeds and their active compounds, alginic acid, fucoidan and phloroglucinol, were investigated under in vitro. Among methanol extracts of seaweeds (sea mustard, sea tangle, seaweed papulosa, fusiforme, sea lettuce, purple laver and chlorella), seaweed papulosa and sea tangle showed strong scavenging activities of 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical and hydroxyl radical (${cdot}OH$). In addition, under in vitro, the scavenging activities on DPPH radical of alginic acid and fucoidan, which are active compounds of brown algae, and phloroglucinol, the active compound from Ecklonia species, were evaluated and compared. Fucoidan and phloroglucinol showed strong DPPH scavenging effect, in particular, phloroglucinol had strongest activity among the active compounds. On the other hand, alginic acid did not exert DPPH scavenging activity. From the present study, we could confirm the antioxidative activity of seaweeds and its active compounds.