If the 401(k) world held a popularity contest, Vanguard would win. More Americans choose to stash their retirement savings in Vanguard 401(k) funds above all other firms' funds in the country.

In this, our annual review of widely held 401(k) funds - mutual funds with the most in 401(k) assets - 32 Vanguard funds rank among the top 100.

Of course, just over a dozen of those are index funds, but Vanguard offers many actively managed funds, too. Good ones.

Today, we're going to look at some of the best Vanguard funds for your 401(k) ... and also weed out a few lesser options. We'll review nine active Vanguard funds, as well as the popular Vanguard Target Retirement series of target-date funds. (Ten Vanguard target-date portfolios rank among the 100 most popular retirement funds). We'll rate each Buy, Sell or Hold.

Vanguard Equity Income: BUY

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Consistency is Vanguard Equity Income's hallmark. A focus on large companies that pay a dividend helps, of course. Over the past three, five and 10 years, Vanguard Equity Income - one of several Vanguard funds included in the Kiplinger 25 - has delivered above-average returns with below-average risk relative to its peers: funds that invest in large, discount-priced companies.

Having the same team of managers in place for more than a decade certainly has been a plus, too. Wellington Management's Michael Reckmeyer, a co-subadviser since 2007, runs two-thirds of the assets; Vanguard's in-house quantitative stock-picking group has been running the remaining third of assets for even longer, since 2003.

Together they build a portfolio of roughly 200 large companies - mostly), Verizon Communications () and Johnson & Johnson () - that pay above-market-average dividends. The fund yields 2.8%; the S&P 500 yields 1.9%.