Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma accounts for most esophageal cancers in East Asia. Esophageal adenocarcinoma arises from Barrett's esophagus. However, patients with advanced disease remain poor prognosis. Therefore, it is needed to clarify the carcinogenic mechanism and cancer metastatic process in esophageal cancer. Here, we described the recent research approaches of microarray and next generation sequence in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and esophageal adenocarcinoma.