Objective To discuss the diagnosis and management of metastatic adrenal carcinoma. Methods Forty-seven cases with metastatic tumor in the adrenal glands were analyzed retrospectively from December 1996 to April 2010. Lung was the most common primary tumor site (51.1 %, 24 cases), followed by the renal cell carcinoma (12.8%, 6 cases), liver cancer (10.6%,5 cases), breast cancer (8.5%, 4 cases), melanoma (4.2%, 2 cases), and other carcinoma (12.8%,6 cases). Most patients with metastatic adrenal carcinoma had no special clinic manifestation. Lesions of 36 cases were surgically removed and 11 cases gave up operation. Results The mean survival time were 33.8±4.5 months for 31 cases underwent adrenalectomy and 6.3±2.7 months for 6 cases without operation. Patients with surgically removed adrenal metastases had better survival than those without surgical resection. Conclusions Adrenal gland is a common site of metastatic carcinoma.Ultrasonographic and CT scans are important diagnosis methods for metastatic adrenal carcinoma. Operation is still effective and long-term survival may be achieved for those well selected patients, but surgical indication must be strictly monitored.