In recent years, accumulating evidence has demonstrated that microRNAs (miRs, miRNAs) may serve an important role in the occurrence and development of tumors. miR-23a-5p has been confirmed as an oncogene in numerous diseases through gene chip analysis. However, as the most common type of renal tumor, the expression and function of miR-23a-5p in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) remains unclear. In the present study, reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) analysis, and Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8), wound scratch, Transwell, MTT and flow cytometry assays were performed to investigate the role of miR-23a-5p in RCC. The expression of miR-23a-5p in RCC tissue samples was significantly higher compared with that in normal tissue samples (P<0.01). Furthermore, the expression of miR-23a-5p in RCC cell lines (786O, ACHN and Caki-1) was significantly higher compared with that in the human embryo kidney 293T cell line, as determined using RT-qPCR (P<0.001). In addition, the results revealed that the upregulation of miR-23a-5p promoted the proliferation, migration and invasion of RCC cells, and inhibited RCC cell apoptosis. The downregulation of miR-23a-5p resulted in the reversal of the results described above. Additionally, it was observed that the downregulation of miR-23a-5p significantly promoted ACHN and 786O cell viability (P<0.001). The results of the present study suggest that miR-23a-5p is an oncogene in the occurrence and development of RCC and may be a novel therapeutic target for RCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]