Summary Prospectus

MARCH 1, 2018

TIAA-CREF Small/Mid-Cap Equity Fund

of the TIAA-CREF Funds

Class:	Institutional	Advisor	Premier	Retirement	Retail
Ticker:	TSMWX	TSMNX	TSMMX	TSMOX	TSMEX

Before you invest, you may want to review the Fund’s prospectus, which contains more information about the Fund and its risks. You can find the Fund’s prospectus and other information about the Fund online at www.tiaa.org/tcf_pro. You can also get this information at no cost by calling 800-223-1200 or by sending an e-mail request to disclosure@tiaa.org. The Fund’s prospectus and Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”), each dated March 1, 2018, as subsequently supplemented, and the sections of the Fund’s shareholder report dated October 31, 2017 from “Summary Portfolio of Investments” through “Notes to Financial Statements,” are incorporated into this Summary Prospectus by reference and may be obtained free of charge at the website, phone number or e-mail address noted above.

Investment objective

The Fund seeks a favorable long-term total return, mainly through capital appreciation.

Fees and expenses

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund:

SHAREHOLDER FEES (fees paid directly from your investment)

	Institutional Class	Advisor Class	Premier Class	Retirement Class	Retail Class
Maximum sales charge imposed on purchases (percentage of offering price)	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%
Maximum deferred sales charge	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%
Maximum sales charge imposed on reinvested dividends and other distributions	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%
Redemption or exchange fee	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%
Account maintenance fee (annual fee on accounts under $2,000)	0%	0%	0%	0%	$15.00

TIAA-CREF Small/Mid-Cap Equity Fund ■Summary Prospectus     1

ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

		Institutional Class	Advisor Class		Premier Class	Retirement Class	Retail Class
Management fees		0.46%	0.46%		0.46%	0.46%	0.46%
Distribution (Rule 12b-1) fees		—	—		0.15%	—	0.25%
Other expenses		0.04%	0.13%	1	0.03%	0.29%	0.17%
Total annual Fund operating expenses		0.50%	0.59%		0.64%	0.75%	0.88%
Waivers and expense reimbursements2		—	—		—	—	—
Total annual Fund operating expenses after fee
	waiver and/or expense reimbursement	0.50%	0.59%		0.64%	0.75%	0.88%
1	Estimate is for the current fiscal year.
2	Under the Fund’s expense reimbursement arrangements, the Fund’s investment adviser, Teachers Advisors, LLC, has contractually agreed to reimburse the Fund for any Total annual Fund operating expenses (excluding interest, taxes, brokerage commissions or other transactional expenses, Acquired fund fees and expenses and extraordinary expenses) that exceed: (i) 0.53% of average daily net assets for Institutional Class shares; (ii) 0.68% of average daily net assets for Advisor Class shares; (iii) 0.68% of average daily net assets for Premier Class shares; (iv) 0.78% of average daily net assets for Retirement Class shares; and (v) 0.92% of average daily net assets for Retail Class shares of the Fund. These expense reimbursement arrangements will continue through at least February 28, 2019, unless changed with approval of the Board of Trustees.

Example

This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses, before expense reimbursements, remain the same. The example assumes that the Fund’s expense reimbursement agreement will remain in place through February 28, 2019, but that there will be no waiver or expense reimbursement agreement in effect thereafter. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

	Institutional Class		Advisor Class		Premier Class		Retirement Class		Retail Class
1 year	$	51	$	60	$	65	$	77	$	90
3 years	$	160	$	189	$	205	$	240	$	281
5 years	$	280	$	329	$	357	$	417	$	488
10 years	$	628	$	738	$	798	$	930	$	1,084

Portfolio turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in

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annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the fiscal year ended October 31, 2017, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 84% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal investment strategies

Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its assets in small-cap and mid-cap equity securities. In seeking a favorable long-term total return, the Fund will invest in securities that the Fund’s investment adviser, Teachers Advisors, LLC (“Advisors”), believes have favorable prospects for significant long-term capital appreciation potential. A small-cap or mid-cap equity security is a security within the capitalization range of the companies included in the Fund’s benchmark index, the Russell 2500^®Index, at the time of purchase. As of December 31, 2017, the Russell 2500 Index had a mean market capitalization of $5.2 billion and a median market capitalization of $1.2 billion. The Fund invests primarily in equity securities of small to mid-sized companies across a wide range of sectors, growth rates and valuations. For purposes of the 80% investment policy, the term “assets” means net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes.

The Fund seeks to add incremental return over its stated benchmark index, while also managing the relative risk of the Fund versus its benchmark index. Advisors uses proprietary quantitative models, or models utilizing econometric and mathematical techniques, based on financial and investment theories to evaluate and score a broad universe of stocks in which the Fund invests. These models typically weigh many different variables, including the valuation of the individual stock versus the market or its peers, future earnings and sustainable growth prospects, and the price and volume trends of the stock. The score is used to form the portfolio, and the following additional inputs may also be considered: weightings of the stock and its corresponding sector in the benchmark, correlations of the stocks in the universe and trading costs. The Fund may purchase foreign equity securities, denominated in U.S. dollars or in non-U.S. dollar currencies, and equity securities issued in connection with reorganizations and other special situations.

The overall goal is to build a portfolio of stocks that generate a favorable long-term total return, while also managing the relative risk of the Fund versus its benchmark index. The Fund may also purchase and sell futures, options, swaps and other equity derivatives to carry out the Fund’s investment strategies. The Fund’s strategy is based upon Advisors’ understanding of the interplay of market factors and does not assure the Fund will perform as intended. The markets or the prices of individual securities may be affected by factors not taken into account in Advisors’ analysis.

TIAA-CREF Small/Mid-Cap Equity Fund ■Summary Prospectus     3

Principal investment risks

You could lose money over short or long periods by investing in this Fund. An investment in the Fund, due to the nature of the Fund’s portfolio holdings, typically is subject to the following principal investment risks:

·Market Risk—The risk that market prices of portfolio investments held by the Fund may fall rapidly or unpredictably due to a variety of factors, including changing economic, political or market conditions. Market risk may affect a single issuer, industry or sector of the economy, or it may affect the market as a whole.

·Issuer Risk (often called Financial Risk)—The risk that an issuer’s earnings prospects and overall financial position will deteriorate, causing a decline in the value of the issuer’s financial instruments over short or extended periods of time.

·Small-Cap Risk—The risk that the stocks of small-capitalization companies often experience greater price volatility than large- or mid-sized companies because small-cap companies are often newer or less established than larger companies and are likely to have more limited resources, products and markets. Securities of small-cap companies are often less liquid than securities of larger companies as a result of there being a smaller market for their securities, which can have an adverse effect on the pricing of these securities and on the ability to sell these securities when Advisors deems it appropriate.

·Mid-Cap Risk—The risk that the stocks of mid-capitalization companies often experience greater price volatility, lower trading volume and less liquidity than the stocks of larger, more established companies.

·Active Management Risk—The risk that Advisors’ strategy, investment selection or trading execution may cause the Fund to underperform relative to the benchmark index or mutual funds with similar investment objectives.

·Quantitative Analysis Risk—The risk that stocks selected using quantitative modeling and analysis could perform differently from the market as a whole.

·Illiquid Investments Risk—The risk that illiquid investments may be difficult to sell for the value at which they are carried, if at all, or at any price within the desired time frame.

·Special Situation Risk—Stocks of companies involved in acquisitions, consolidations, tender offers or exchanges, takeovers, reorganizations, mergers and other special situations can involve the risk that such situations may not materialize or may develop in unexpected ways. Consequently, those stocks can involve more risk than ordinary securities.

·Foreign Investment Risk—Foreign markets can be more volatile than the U.S. market due to increased risks of adverse issuer, political, regulatory, currency, market or economic developments and can result in greater price volatility and perform differently from financial instruments of U.S. issuers. This risk may be heightened in emerging or developing markets. Foreign

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investments may also be less liquid and more difficult to value than investments in U.S. issuers.

·Currency Risk—The risk that foreign (non-U.S.) currencies may decline in value relative to the U.S. dollar and adversely affect the value of the Fund’s investments in foreign currencies, securities denominated in foreign currencies or derivative instruments that provide exposure to foreign currencies.

·Derivatives Risk—The risks associated with investing in derivatives may be different and greater than the risks associated with directly investing in the underlying securities and other instruments. The Fund may use futures, options, single name or index credit default swaps, or forwards, and the Fund may also use more complex derivatives such as swaps that might present liquidity, credit and counterparty risk. When investing in derivatives, the Fund may lose more than the principal amount invested.

Please see the non-summary portion of the Prospectus for more detailed information about the risks described above.

Past performance

The following chart and table help illustrate some of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year to year. The bar chart shows the annual total returns of the Institutional Class of the Fund, before taxes, in each full calendar year since inception of the Institutional Class. Because the expenses vary across share classes, the performance of the Institutional Class may vary from the other share classes. Below the bar chart are the best and worst returns of the Institutional Class for a calendar quarter during the full calendar-year periods covered by the bar chart. The performance table following the bar chart shows the Fund’s average annual total returns for the Institutional, Advisor, Premier, Retirement and Retail classes over the applicable one-year, five-year, ten-year and since-inception periods ended December 31, 2017, and how those returns compare to those of the Fund’s benchmark index. After-tax performance is shown only for Institutional Class shares, and after-tax returns for the other classes of shares will vary from the after-tax returns presented for Institutional Class shares.

The returns shown below reflect previous agreements by Advisors to waive or reimburse the Fund for certain fees and expenses. Without these waivers and reimbursements, the returns of the Fund would have been lower. Past performance of the Fund (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how it will perform in the future. The benchmark index listed below is unmanaged, and you cannot invest directly in an index. The returns for the benchmark index reflect no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes.

For current performance information of each share class, including performance to the most recent month-end, please visit www.tiaa.org.

TIAA-CREF Small/Mid-Cap Equity Fund ■Summary Prospectus     5

ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS FOR THE INSTITUTIONAL CLASS SHARES (%)

Small/Mid-Cap Equity Fund

Best quarter: 7.08%, for the quarter ended December 31, 2017. Worst quarter: 1.97%, for the quarter ended June 30, 2017.

AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS

For the Periods Ended December 31, 2017

		Inception date	One year		Since inception
Institutional Class		8/5/2016
	Return before taxes		19.63	%	19.78	%
	Return after taxes on distributions		17.14	%	17.95	%
	Return after taxes on distributions and sale of
	Fund shares		11.35	%	14.46	%
Advisor Class		8/5/2016
	Return before taxes		19.65	%	19.69	%
Premier Class		8/5/2016
	Return before taxes		19.50	%	19.56	%
Retirement Class		8/5/2016
	Return before taxes		19.34	%	19.44	%
Retail Class		8/5/2016
	Return before taxes		19.17	%	19.29	%
Russell 2500 Index
(reflects no deductions for fees, expenses or taxes)			16.81	%	17.27	%†
Current performance of the Fund’s shares may be higher or lower than that shown above.
†	Performance is calculated from the inception date of the Institutional Class.
After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates in effect during the periods shown and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on the investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown. The after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold their Fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements such as 401(a), 401(k) or 403(b) plans or Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). After-tax returns are shown for only one class, and after-tax returns for other classes will vary.

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Portfolio management

Investment Adviser. The Fund’s investment adviser is Teachers Advisors, LLC.

Portfolio Managers. The following persons manage the Fund on a day-to-day basis:

Name:	Adam Cao, CFA	Pei Chen
Title:	Managing Director	Senior Director
Experience on Fund:	since 2016	since 2016

Purchase and sale of Fund shares

Institutional Class shares are available for purchase directly from the Fund by certain eligible investors (which include employee benefit plans and financial intermediaries). Advisor Class shares are available for purchase through certain financial intermediaries, employee benefit plans and insurance company separate accounts. Premier Class and Retirement Class shares are generally available for purchase through employee benefit plans or other types of savings plans or accounts. Retail Class shares are available for purchase through certain financial intermediaries or by contacting the Fund directly at 800-223-1200 or www.tiaa.org.

·The minimum initial investment is $2 million and the minimum subsequent investment is $1,000 for Institutional Class shares, unless an investor purchases shares by or through financial intermediaries that have entered into an appropriate agreement with the Fund or its affiliates. Employee benefit plans, fee-based managed account programs (“wrap accounts”), state sponsored 529 college savings plans, collective trust funds, investment companies or other pooled investment vehicles, thrifts, bank and trust companies that have entered into agreements to offer Institutional Class shares held in omnibus accounts on the books of the Fund are exempt from initial and subsequent investment minimums.

·There is no minimum initial or subsequent investment for Advisor Class shares. Advisor Class shares are primarily offered through certain financial intermediaries and employer-sponsored employee benefit plans.

·There is no minimum initial or subsequent investment for Premier Class shares. Premier Class shares are primarily offered through certain financial intermediaries and employer-sponsored employee benefit plans.

·There is no minimum initial or subsequent investment for Retirement Class shares. Retirement Class shares are primarily offered through employer-sponsored employee benefit plans.

·The minimum initial investment for Retail Class shares is $2,000 per Fund account for Traditional IRA, Roth IRA and Coverdell accounts and $2,500 for all other account types. Subsequent investments for all account types must be at least $100.

Redeeming or Exchanging Shares. You can redeem (sell) or exchange your shares of the Fund on any day that the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) or its affiliated exchanges, NYSE Arca Equities or NYSE MKT, are open for trading

TIAA-CREF Small/Mid-Cap Equity Fund ■Summary Prospectus     7

(each such day a “Business Day”). Exchanges may be made for shares of the same share class of other funds offered by the Trust. If your shares are held through a third party, please contact that entity for applicable redemption or exchange requirements. If your shares are held directly with the Fund, contact the Fund directly in writing or by telephone.

Tax information

The Fund intends to make distributions to shareholders that may be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains. Distributions made to tax-exempt shareholders or shareholders who hold Fund shares in a tax-deferred account are generally not subject to income tax in the current year, but redemptions made from tax-deferred accounts may be subject to income tax.

Payments to broker-dealers and other financial intermediary compensation

If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Fund and/or its related companies may pay the financial intermediary for providing investor services. The Fund’s related companies may also pay the financial intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other financial intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

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TIAA

730 Third Avenue

New York, NY 10017-3206

Printed on paper containing recycled fiber A15479 (3/18)

TIAA

730 Third Avenue

New York, NY 10017-3206

A15479 (3/18)