Let (T, •, •, •) be a triple system of arbitrary dimension, over an arbitrary base field F and in which any identity on the triple product is not supposed. A basis B = {e i } i∈I of T is called multiplicative if for any i, j, k ∈ I we have that e i , e j , e k ∈ Fer for some r ∈ I. We show that if T admits a multiplicative basis then it decomposes as the orthogonal direct sum T = k I k of well-described ideals admitting each one a multiplicative basis. Also the minimality of T is characterized in terms of the multiplicative basis and it is shown that, under a mild condition, the above direct sum is by means of the family of its minimal ideals.