Increasing evidence has demonstrated that miRNAs play a critical role in tumor development and progression. Previous studies have revealed that miR-106a is abnormally expressed in various cancers. However, its function and underlying mechanism in cervical cancer (CC) remains unknown. In this study, we confirmed that the expression of miR-106a was significantly upregulated in both CC cell lines and tissues by qRT-PCR. The increased expression of miR-106a was obviously associated with adverse prognostic features. Moreover, we demonstrated that miR-106a was a novel independent prognostic marker for predicting the 5-year survival of CC patients. The ectopic overexpression of miR‑106a promoted cell migration, invasion and invasion-related gene expression, while downregulated miR-106a reversed the effect. In addition, miR-106a regulated tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (TIMP)2 by directly binding to its 3'-UTR, leading to the indution of the expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). In clinical samples of CC, miR-106a was inversely correlated with TIMP2, which was downregulated in CC. Alteration of TIMP2 expression at least partially abolished the migration, invasion and MMP expression of miR-106a in CC cells. In conclusion, our data indicated that miR-106a promoted the migration, invasion and MMP expression of CC by targeting TIMP2, and may represent a novel potential therapeutic target and prognostic marker for CC.