Transforming growth factor-1 (TGF-1), a multi-function polypeptide, is a double-edged sword in cancer. For some tumor cells, TGF-1 is a potent growth inhibitor and apoptosis inducer. More commonly, TGF-1 loses its growth-inhibitory and apoptosis-inducing effects, but stimulates the metastatic capacity of tumor cells. It is currently little known about TGF-1-promoted cell migration in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells, let alone its mechanism. In this study, we found that TGF-1 lost its tumor-suppressive effects, but significantly stimulated cell migration in SMMC-7721 human HCC cells. By FACS and Western blot analysis, we observed that TGF-1 enhanced the expression of 5 1 integrin obviously, and subsequently stimulated cell adhesion onto fibronectin (Fn). Furthermore, we observed that TGF-1 could also promote SMMC-7721 cells adhesion onto laminin (Ln). Our data also provided evidences that TGF-1 induced epithelial-to-mesenchymal transformation (EMT) in SMMC-7721 cells. First, SMMC-7721 cells clearly switched to the spindle shape morphology after TGF-1 treatment. Furthermore, TGF-1 induced the down-regulation of E-cadherin and the nuclear translocation of -catenin. These results indicated that TGF-1-promoted cell adhesion and TGF-1-induced epithelial-to-mesenchymal transformation might be both responsible for TGF-1-enhanced cell migration.