MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are emerging as critical regulators in carcinogenesis and tumor progression. miR-98 has previously been verified to be important in tumor progression, however, its function in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains to be elucidated. The expression levels of miR-98 in HCC tissues and cell lines were determined by reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Subsequently, the effect of miR‑98 on cell proliferation, migration and invasion was evaluated by MTT assay, transwell migration assay and transwell invasion assay. Furthermore, a luciferase reporter assay was conducted to confirm the action of miR‑98 on downstream target genes, including collagen triple helix repeat containing 1 (CTHRC1). In the present study, it was confirmed that miR‑98 was significantly downregulated in HCC tissues and cell lines. Overexpression of miR‑98 inhibited HCC cell proliferation, migration and invasion in vitro. In addition, at the molecular level, the tumor oncogene CTHRC1 was identified to be the direct target of miR-98. Our findings suggested that miR‑98 was significantly downregulated in HCC and suppressed HCC cell proliferation, migration and invasion partially via the downregulation of CTHRC1. Thus, these data demonstrated that miR-98 could be a potential therapeutic target in HCC.