Objective To investigate the expression of survivin and bcl-2 in human squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) lesions and cell line SCL-1. Methods Tissue samples from 60 patients with SCC and 10 normal human controls were immunohistochemically stained to detect the expressions of survivin and bcl-2.Western blot was used to measure the expressions of bcl-2 and survivin proteins in HaCaT human keratinocytes and SCL-1 human squamous cell carcinoma cells. Results In normal control tissues, there was no expressions of survivin or bcl-2, while in SCC, the expression rates of bcl-2 and survivin were 70% and 60%, respectively,and there was no statistical correlation between the expressions of bcl-2 and survivin (P >0.05). Neither the expression of survivin nor that of bcl-2 was correlated to patients' age, gender or lesional site (all P >0.05). A statistical correlation was observed between the pathological stage in patients and expression of bcl-2 as well as between lymph node metastasis and expression of survivin (both P < 0.05). Western blot analysis revealed a significant increase in the expression of survivin and bcl-2 in SCL-1 cells compared with HaCaT cells. Con-clusion In SCC, survivin and bcl-2 seem to play their roles via different anti-apoptotic pathways.