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The objective of this study was to verify the effect of different levels of physical activity on cognitive function and depression in the elderly. Method: Participants were 465 Brazilian elderly volunteers, some practicing and others not practicing different physical activity programs (69.93±6.63 years), divided into 4 groups: active elderly, insufficiently active A, insufficiently active B and sedentary elderly, according to the criteria of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). The Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) was used to verify possible declines in cognitive function, and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) was used to verify the intensity of depression. The data collection took place in 3 distinct evaluative moments (initial, intermediate and final evaluation) over 35 weeks. Results: For cognitive function, a significant effect of the different levels of physical activity was found in the intermediate evaluation and in the final evaluation (p=0.000). For depression, the results indicated a significant effect of the different levels of physical activity in the three evaluative moments (p=0.000). The results allow us to conclude that the regular practice of moderate physical activity demonstrated improvements in the cognitive function and depression of the Brazilian elderly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]