MicroRNA-24 (miR‐24), a member of the miRNA family, functions as an oncogene in various types of human cancer. However, the underlying mechanisms of miR‐24 involvement in the development and progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain poorly understood. The present study revealed that miRNA-24 down-regulates p53 through binding to the 3′-UTR of p53 mRNA based on a luciferase reporter assay, and that the expression level of miR-24 could affect the invasion of HCC lines via p53. Down-regulation of p53 significantly attenuated the inhibitory effects of miR-24 knockdown on the invasion of HCC cells, suggesting that miR-24 could be a potential target for HCC treatment. Moreover, our results revealed that miR-24 expression was significantly increased in HCC metastatic tumor tissues compared with matched non-metastatic tumor tissues, and that the up-regulation of miR-24 was significantly associated with down-regulation of p53 in the HCC tissues. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that miR-24 functions as an oncogene in HCC, at least partly by promoting cell invasion through down-regulation of p53. Therefore, miR-24 may be a potential therapeutic target for treatment of HCC.