First and foremost it is most important to know what are your goals, i.e. what is it actually you are looking for. In case you go for multicap or diversified funds, you can go for a time horizon of 7-10 years whereas in large cap funds, you can take a time horizon of 10-12 years and small and midcap around 12-15 years. Anything 5 years and less than 5 years, ideally you can go for balanced funds or debt funds or Bank Fixed Deposits.
It is important to note that mutual funds carries certain amount of risk. As per your risk appetite, you can decide which funds to go for and plan accordingly.