Expression of long non-coding RNA SNHG7 (lncRNA-SNHG7) and its clinical significance in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) were explored. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to detect the expression level of lncRNA-SNHG7 in cancer tissues. Kaplan-Meier curves and multivariate Cox proportional models were used to study the impact on clinical outcome. Expression of lncRNA-SNHG7 was much higher in cancer tissues than that in para-cancer tissues. The lncRNA-SNHG7 expression was correlated with tumor number, lymph node metastasis and clinical stage (P<0.05). In addition, HCC patients with higher lncRNA-SNHG7 expression had significantly poorer progression-free survival time and overall survival time (P<0.001). Both univariate analysis and multivariate analysis indicated that high expression of lncRNA-SNHG7 was an independent predictor of poor prognosis in HCC. LncRNA-SNHG7 might contribute to the development of HCC and serve as a clinical biomarker and a therapeutic target for HCC patients.