In nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), the nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signaling pathway is highly active. The constitutive activation of NF-κB prompts malignant cell proliferation, and microRNAs are considered an important mediator in regulating the NF-κB signaling pathway. The current study investigated the effect of microRNA-200a (miR-200a) on NF-κB activation. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to quantify the relative level of miR-200a in NPC tissue samples and CNE2 cells. An MTT assay was used to investigate the effect of miR-200a on cell proliferation. To investigate the activation of NF-κB, western blotting was used to measure the protein levels of NF-κB and its downstream targets. To identify the target genes of miR-200a, a luciferase reporter assay was used. The current study demonstrated that miR-200a was upregulated in NPC tissue samples and cell lines. Overexpression of miR-200a resulted in the proliferation of CNE2 cells. Western blot analysis indicated that the protein levels of p65 increased when CNE2 cells were transfected with miR-200a mimics. Additionally, the downstream targets of miR-200a were upregulated, including vascular cell adhesion molecule, intercellular adhesion molecule and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1. The luciferase assay indicated that IκBα was the target gene of miR-200a. In conclusion, miR-200a was demonstrated to enhance NPC cell proliferation by activating the NF-κB signaling pathway.