Backgroud: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is one of the most common renal malignancies in the urinary system. Numerous studies have demonstrated that miRNAs can regulate tumorigenesis and progression, while the underlying molecular mechanism for miR-6838-5p involved in RCC development is still largely unknown.Methods: The relative expression of miR-6838-5p in RCC tissues, RCC cell lines, adjacent normal tissues and normal renal epithelial cells was detected by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). In vitro studies, cell proliferation and invasion in human RCC cell lines ACHN and 786-O were evaluated by CCK-8 assay, Transwell assay, Colony formation assay and Flow cytometry.Bioinformatics analysis, luciferase report analysis and Western blot assay were proved that Cyclin D binding myb-like transcription factor 1 (DMTF1) is the target of miR-6838-5p.Results: Our study confirmed that miR-6838-5p was upregulated in RCC tissues (30/42, 77.43%, P < 0.01) and RCC cell lines (P < 0.05) compared to adjacent normal tissues and normal renal epithelial cells. In vitro studies demonstrated that overexpression of miR-6838-5p significantly increased cell proliferation and invasion in human RCC cell lines ACHN and 786-O (P < 0.05), whereas inhibition of miR-6838-5p inhibited cell proliferation and invasion (P < 0.05). Furthermore, we found that miR-6838-5p binds to the wild-type DMTF1 3'UTR. In addition, we found that DMTF1 was downregulation in RCC tissues and cell lines. Meanwhile, it was demonstrated in ACHN cells that overexpression of miR-6838-5p inhibited the expression of DMTF1. Finally, we also confirmed that the interaction of miR-6838-5p overexpression and DMTF1 overexpression might rescue the inhibitory effects of overexpression of miR-6838-5p on the expression of phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN), p53, Murine double minute 2 (MDM2) and alternative reading frame (ARF) in the DMTF1-mediated ARF-p53 downstream pathway.Conclusions: Our research shows that miR-6838-5p enhances the growth and invasion of renal cell carcinoma dependent on DMTF1 via inhibiting the ARF-p53 pathway, which suggest that miR-6838-5pcan be used as a marker for the diagnosis of RCC.