Objective To investigate the anticancer activities of resveratrol on malignant melanoma cells in vitro and involved mechanisms. Methods A375 human malignant melanoma cells and B16-F1mouse malignant melanoma cells were cultured and treated with various concentrations of resveratrol for different durations. The cell proliferation, apoptosis and cycle of both B16-F1 and A375 cells were detected with MTT assay, Annexin V-F1TC/propidium iodide (PI) double staining flow cytometry and propidium iodide flow cytometry, respectively. Western blot analysis was performed to measure the expression of Bcl-2 and Bax protein in both cells. Results Resveratroi inhibited the proliferation of A375 and B16-F1 cells in a time- and dose- dependent manner. The apoptosis rate of A375 cells was (16.7±2.1 )%, (17.2±1.7)% and (52.3±4.1 )% after treatment with resveratrol of 25 μmol/L for 24 hours, resveratrol of 100 μmol/L for 12 and 72 hours, respectively;, and resveratrol of 100 μmol/L induced the apoptosis of B16-F1 at a rate of ( 18.4±1.6)%, (39.6±3.3 )% and (56.7±4.5 )% at 12, 24 and 72 hours, respectively. Flow cytometry showed that A375 and B16-F1 cells treated with resveratrol were arrested in the G1 phase of cell cycle, and the blocking effect increased in a dose-dependent manner. The percentage of A375 and B16-F1 cells in G1 phase was (40.51±3.97 )% and (41.34±3.12 )%, respectively, after 24-hour treatment with resveratrol of 25 μmol/L,(55.64±4.95)% and (53.93±5.12)%, respectively with resveratrol of 100μmol/L for the same duration.The expression of Bcl-2 protein was decreased in malignant melanoma cells treated with resveratrol,while that of Bax protein increased. Conclusions Resveratrol can effectively inhibit the proliferation of malignant melanoma cells by regulating the cell cycle and inducing cell apoptosis, which seems to be associated with the regulation of Bcl-2 and Bax expressions.