Recent studies have shown that expression of metastasis-associated in colon cancer-1(MACC1) is observed in different types of cancer and plays an important role in tumor metastasis. However, the expression of MACC1 and its possible role in esophageal cancer remains unknown. In this study, we determined the expression of MACC1 in esophageal cancer by utilizing immunohistochemistry and analyzed the relationship between the expression and esophageal cancer prognosis. Immunohistochemistry results showed that 47 of 85 cancer lesions (55.2 %) were stained positive, and high expression of MACC1 was correlated with the node metastasis and TNM stage (P < 0.05). The Kaplan-Meier survival curve showed that patients with high MACC1 expression had significantly reduced overall 5-year survival rates (P = 0.004). Cox regression analysis revealed that high expression of MACC1 was associated with increased risk of death (hazard ratio [HR] =2.25) in patients with esophageal cancer. These findings suggested that high expression of MACC1 was correlated with progression and metastasis of esophageal cancer and might serve as a novel prognostic marker for patients with esophageal cancer.