Elucidating the effects of genes involved in tumors may improve therapeutic strategies for human cancer. Recently, several studies discovered that Akt1 plays a dual role in mediating cell proliferation, migration and invasion, depending on the cell type. However, the pathophysiological role of Akt1 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and colorectal carcinoma cells remains poorly understood. In the present study, we transfected the Akt1-expressing plasmids into the tumor cells that expressed only low levels of Akt1. The migration and invasion abilities were analyzed in 24-well Boyden chambers. The expression of proteins was detected using western blot analysis. Our results demonstrated that overexpression of Akt1 significantly enhanced the proliferation rates and promoted the colony formation in both HepG2 and HCT 116 cells. When treated with wortmannin, the ability to form colonies was significantly attenuated in both cell lines. Of note, enforced expression of Akt1 induced HepG2 cell migration and invasion; by contrast, upregulation of Akt1 expression suppressed the migration and invasion of HCT 116 cells. Subsequent mechanistic investigations revealed that upregulation of Akt1 markedly induced the expression of Bcl-2 and NF-κB in both types of tumor cells. Notably, we observed a similar increase of MMP2, MMP9, HIF1α and VEGF in HCC cells, whereas Akt1 significantly suppressed the expression of these molecules in colorectal carcinoma cells. These data suggest a dual role for Akt1 in tumor cell migration and invasion and highlight the cell type-specific actions of Akt1 kinases in the regulation of cell motility.