Recent findings suggest that the melastatin transient receptor potential channel 7 (TRPM7) is overexpressed in many types of cancers and is involved in tumorigenesis. However, its expression pattern and the potential role in bladder cancer remain unclear. The aim of the present study was to investigate the expression status of TRPM7 and its relationship with the development of bladder cancer. In the present study, we observed that the expression of TRPM7 was significantly elevated in bladder cancer tissues compared with that noted in the adjacent non-tumor tissues. Furthermore, increased TRPM7 expression was significantly associated with recurrence, metastasis and prognosis. In addition, after knockdown of the expression of TRPM7 by siRNA, the proliferation and the motility of T24 and 5637 cells were obviously inhibited, and downregulation of TRPM7 was found to play an important role in bladder cancer cell apoptosis. In conclusion, our findings suggest that TRPM7 plays an important role in bladder cancer, and TRPM7 may serve as a potentially unfavorable factor and novel target for human bladder cancer.