Esophageal cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma is one of the two main types in esophageal cancer. MicroRNA is a small non-coding RNA molecule functions in many different cancers including esophageal cancer. We found miR-502 was up-regulated in esophageal tissues， which indicated miRNA-502 may play important roles in esophageal cancer. In this study， we used esophageal cancer cell line TE1 as an in vitro model for investigating the role of miR-502 in promoting the proliferation of the cancer cells. We found that overexpressing miR-502 in TE1 cells promoted the proliferation and inhibited the apoptosis induced by dox. Down-regulating miR-502 made the opposite phenomenon. Furthermore， western blot showed that miR-502 enhanced the phosphorylation levels of AKT pathways， which may be the mechanism of the overgrowth for esophageal cancer cell. Our data provide the evidence of a role for miR-502 in the regulation the proliferation of esophageal cancer cell through promoting the phosphorylation of AKT signaling. Due to its ability to promote the overgrowth of esophageal cancer cell， miR-502 may be a novel target for esophageal cancer therapeutic.