Abstract Inappropriate management practices on Cerrado soil cause some of the most important negative impacts on this ecosystem, especially converting native vegetation on pastures and crops plantation. Significantly losses of natural Cerrado have been reported and current remaining natural vegetation area is smaller than other land cover. Therefore, sustainable practices are required to recover and protect the biome. For that reason this work aimed to evaluate the effect of grass and legumes species on coir geotextile during a seasonal cycle of rain and drought on soil of abandoned pasture of Cerrado in southeastern Brazil. Several soil parameters were examined, including their physical and chemical compositions, microbial biomass-C (SMB-C), and microbial viability. The plant species used were Andropogon gayanus (CGG—Coir Geotextile Grass) and Calopogonium mucunoides and Arachis pintoi (CGL—Coir Geotextile Legumes). In general, CGL had more beneficial effects on soil fertility than CGG in terms of total soil organic carbon and total nitrogen. The CGL treatment showed SMB-C values twice those of the control, and 28% higher than CGG. Microbial populations (actinobacteria and fungi) increased in CGG and CGL, being the better improvement on microbial growth observed on CGL. Actinobacteria was the most prevalent group both on the soil surface and at greater depths. Our results indicated that Calopogonium mucunoides is a very aggressive species and inhibits the growth of Arachis pintoi . The appropriate use of geotextiles, associated with non-weed and non-alien vegetation, represents a viable technique for improving total SOC and SMB-C, nutrients as nitrogen and phosphorus, and increase the microbial populations.