Plants are important bioindicators of atmospheric or soil pollution with heavy metals. Their ability to accumulate these compounds, by root uptake or by dry and wet deposition at foliage or bark level, is significantly influenced by plant species (Badamasi, 2017; Zhang et al, 2019). In many studies, the roadside vegetation was used as a bioindicator for heavy metals pollution in both urban and rural areas (Cui et al, 2022; Greksa et al, 2019; Sultan et al, 2022). The main objective of this study was to investigate the possibility of using several common trees and shrubs species from urban area as potential bioindicators for soil heavy metals pollution in Cluj-Napoca area (Romania). A total of 40 soil samples and 67 leaves samples were simultaneously collected (during the summer of 2018 and 2019) from different locations from Cluj-Napoca city, mainly selected based on traffic density and industrial pollution. The analysed leaves belong to the following species: Thuja occidentalis, Prunus avium, P. domestica, P. cerasus, P. cerasifera, P. armeniaca, Jasminum officinale, Ficus carica, Vitis vinifera, Hedera helix, Rosa thea, Populus 30igar, Ulmus glutinosa, Sambucus 30igar, Syringa vulgaris, Tilia cordata, Fagus sylvatica, Acer campestris, A. pseudoplatanus, Aesculus hippocastanum, and Juglans regia. The heavy metals (Pb, Cu, Cd, Cr, Ni and Zn) content was analysed by using the graphite furnace/air-acetylene flame atomic absorption spectrometry. Generally, the metals content in soil was in the range of normal values (according to national legislation), but the results showed that in some particular sampling points, the metals levels exceeded the alert and intervention threshold (e.g. Pb ranged between 20.6 and 184.67 mg/kg, Cd was between 0.6 and 5.9 mg/kg, Cu had values between 13.1 and 886.3, while Zn ranged between 60.4 and 1135.4 mg/kg). It was found that some vegetal samples collected from industrial area had high concentrations of Zn (9.5 – 504.5 mg/kg), Cu (3.9 – 75.46 mg/kg), Ni (1.2 – 10.6 mg/kg) or Pb (1.2 – 9.9 mg/kg). In several sampling points, the metal content from leaves was positively correlated with the metal concentration in soil. The calculated bioconcentration factor, showed that the species Tilia cordata, Aesculus hippocastanum, Acer campestris, A. pseudoplatanus, Ulmus glutinosa, Hedera helix, Prunus avium, and P. armeniaca had a higher capacity to uptake Cu and Cd from soil, compared with the other studied species. More comprehensive monitoring by including the sequential extraction of heavy metals in soil probably will enhance the understanding of the metal’s distribution, accumulation, and sources in the investigated area. Another important perspective for the future research is to investigate the presence of heavy metals in the compost generated by leaves and the efficiency of mixing compost with biochar for reducing heavy metals bioavailability.