MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as important regulators in cancer that are implicated in regulation of various cellular processes. miR-382 has been proposed as a tumor suppressor by several recent studies. However, the function of miR-382 in prostate cancer remains unknown. In this study, we aimed to investigate the potential function of miR-382 in prostate cancer. We found that miR-382 was significantly decreased in prostate cancer specimens and cancer cell lines. The overexpression of miR-382 in prostate cancer cells markedly inhibited cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. In contrast, miR-382 suppression exhibited an opposite effect. Target analysis predicted that chicken ovalbumin upstream promoter transcription factor II (COUP‑TFII) was a direct target of miR-382. This prediction was experimentally confirmed by dual-luciferase reporter assay, real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and western blot analysis. Our results further demonstrated that miR-382 inhibited the downstream genes of COUP‑TFII, including Snail and matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP2). Moreover, the restoration of COUP‑TFII expression significantly blocked the inhibitory effect of miR-382 on cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, and Snail expression. Taken together, this study suggests that miR-382 inhibits prostate cancer cell proliferation and metastasis through inhibiting COUP‑TFII, representing an important new mechanism for understanding prostate cancer pathogenesis and providing a novel therapeutic candidate target for prostate cancer therapy.