Although thiazolidinediones (TZDs) were found to be ligands for peroxisome proliferators-activated receptorgamma (PPARgamma), the mechanism by which TZDs exert their anticancer effect remains unclear. Furthermore, the effect of TZDs on metastatic and angiogenesis potential of cancer cells is unknown. Our results in this paper show that rosiglitazone inhibited SGC-7901 gastric cancer cells growth, caused G1 cell cycle arrest and induced apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner. The effects of rosiglitazone on SGC-7901 cancer cells were completely reversed by treatment with PPARgamma antagonist GW9662. Rosiglitazone inhibited SGC-7901 cell migration, invasiveness, and the expression of MMP-2 in dose-dependent manner via PPARgamma-independent manner. Rosiglitazone reduced the VEGF induced angiogenesis of HUVEC in dose-dependent manner through PPARgamma-dependent pathway. Moreover, rosiglitazone did not affect the expression of VEGF by SGC-7901 cells. Our results demonstrated that by PPARgamma ligand, rosiglitazone inhibited growth and invasiveness of SGC-7901 gastric cancer cells and angiogenesis in vitro via PPARgamma-dependent or -independent pathway.