Objective To investigate the expression and clinical significance of miR-96-5p in primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) at early recurrence after radical surgery. Methods 61 HCC eryopreservation tissue samples from the liver carcinoma specimens data obtained after radical surgery and banked in our hospital were divided into 2 groups: early recurrence group (33 cases) and non-early recurrence group (28 cases). Aquantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was performed to detect the expression of miR-96-5p. Results Compared with the non-early recurrence group , the expression of miR-96-5p was observably down-regulated [(0.634 ± 0.783) vs (5.182 ± 11.321), P = 0.043]. The expression of miR-96-5p was correlated to tumor diameter, early recurrence and vascular invasion (P<0.05). Conclusions miR-96-5p are significantly related to early liver cancer recurrence and metastasis. miR-96-5p may be a molecular marker of HCC at early recurrence as well as a target for targeted therapy of liver cancer in future.