Bioactive glasses (BGs) are important candidates for bone implant materials because of their excellent bioactivity and bone bonding ability. Doping BGs with graphene oxide (GO) removes one of the remaining challenges to the application of BGs, namely their lack of intrinsic antibacterial effects. In the present work, we demonstrate that GO-doped BGs can be prepared with a one-step spray pyrolysis (SP) process. The SP preparation method offers the advantages of low contamination and continuous production over the conventional glass and the sol-gel methods previously used to prepare BGs. The phase composition, morphology, specific surface area, and chemical structure of un-doped and GO-doped BGs were characterized using X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) nitrogen adsorption method, and Raman spectroscopy, respectively. In addition, in vitro bioactive tests and antibacterial tests were performed to examine the role of GO on the antibacterial and bioactive properties of the BGs. The results indicated that GO increased the antibacterial effect but decreased the bioactivity of the BGs. Also found was that when the structural disorder of GO was greater, the antibacterial effect of the GO-doped BG was greater. The formation mechanism of GO-doped BG is also discussed. (C) 2016 The Society of Powder Technology Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. and The Society of Powder Technology Japan. All rights reserved.