Objective: To investigate the miR-19 expression in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissue and its clinical significance. Methods: The miR-19 expression in 51 pairs of HCC tissues along with their matched adjacent tissues, and 10 samples of normal liver tissues were detected by qRT-PCR methods. The relations of miR-19 expression with the clinicopathologic factors and prognosis of HCC patients were analyzed. Results: The miR-19 expression level was increased in ascending order in normal liver tissue, tumor-adjacent tissue and HCC tissue, and the differences had statistical significance (all P<0.05). The miR-19 expression was significantly related to tumor size (P=0.02), metastasis (P=0.011), venous invasion (P=0.002) and AJCC stage (P=0.008) of the HCC patients, but irrelevant to their age, sex, tumor differentiation, satellite lesions, tumor number and AFP level (all P>0.05). The 5-year survival rate in patients with high miR-19 expression was significantly lower than that in those with low miR-19 expression (P<0.05). High miR-19 expression together with metastasis and venous invasion are risk factors affecting the survival of HCC patients (all P<0.05). Conclusion: The miR-19 expression is up-regulated in HCC tissue, which probably may be associated with the proliferation and metastasis of HCC, and high miR-19 expression may predict an unfavorable outcome.