Aim To study the effect of resveratrol on proliferation of liver cancer SMMC-7721 cells and the relevant mechanism.Methods SMMC-7721 cells were treated with different concentrations of resveratrol.Cell proliferation was tested by cell proliferation assay and colony-forming experiment.The effect of resveratrol on cell cycle of SMMC-7721 cells was detected by flow cytometry.The activation of mTOR/p-mTOR proteins was detected by Western blot.Results Compared with control group, resveratrol inhibited SMMC-7721 cell proliferation in a dose-dependent manner(P<0.01);cell cycle detection showed that SMMC-7721 cells were arrested at G0/G1 phase by resveratrol;Westren blot assay showed that resveratrol down-regulated p-mTOR expression.Conslusion Resveratrol inhibits human SMMC-7721 cell proliferation and arrests the cell cycle at G0/G1 phase, while the inhibition mechanism may be related to activation of mTOR signaling pathway by resveratrol.