Urine biomarkers offer a non‑invasive method of detecting bladder cancer, monitoring disease progression and predicting disease recurrence and therapeutic treatment efficacy. Tenascin‑C (TN‑C), as a component of the extracellular matrix, is vital in the progression of bladder cancer. However, there is little to report with regard to urine TN‑C and its correlation with bladder cancer grade, stage, recurrence and prognosis. In the present study, 66 samples of voided urine from patients with bladder cancer and 42 samples from volunteers were obtained. The urine TN‑C concentration was determined using an ELISA assay. The correlation between the urine TN‑C concentration and the tumor grade, stage and time from bladder cancer diagnosis to recurrence was analyzed by a rank correlation analysis. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression was used for finding the main life‑threatening factors among age, gender, tumor grade, stage, relapse and the urine TN‑C concentration. At the end, the Kaplan‑Meier method was used to evaluate the survival rate affected by urine TN‑C as a single factor. The results indicated that the urine TN‑C concentration in the bladder cancer patients was higher compared with the healthy control volunteers (22.5 times higher). Among all the patients, urine TN‑C concentration had a positive correlation with the bladder cancer grade and stage, with correlation coefficients of 0.905 and 0.308, respectively; however, this correlation was negative between urine TN‑C concentration and the time from bladder cancer diagnosis to recurrence. Moreover, the multivariate Cox proportional hazards model analysis indicated that urine TN‑C, like tumor grade and recurrence, may be an independent risk factor for bladder cancer patient survival. However, it is noteworthy that inflammation may affect the concentration of urine TN‑C. The results of the present study indicate that urine TN‑C may be used as a biomarker for monitoring the recurrence of bladder cancer in patients and for predicting its prognosis. However, inflammation of the urinary tract should be excluded first.