Objective To observe the effects of the aqueous extracts of Huatan Tongyu Jiedu Decoction on expression of E-cadherin and MMP-2 in gastric cancer cell line SGC-7901. Methods Gastric cancer cell SGC-7901 was intervented for 24h by the extract of different concentrations of 5、 10、 20μg/mL、 30μg/mL and 40μg/mL， respectively. Wounding-healing assay test was adopted to detect gastric cancer cell SGC-7901’s capacity of invasion and matastasis. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay（ELISA） is operated to detect the protein expression of matrix metallopro-teinase 2（MMP-2） and E-cadherin in cells. Results The difference of cells’ healing width between the treatment concentration groups of 10μg/mL、 20μg/mL、 30μg/mL and 40μg/mL and the blank group showed statitically significant（P<0.05， P<0.01）； the amount of E-cadherin of the treatment concentration groups of 10μg/mL、20μg/mL、30μg/mL and 40μg/mL was higher than that of the blank group（P<0.05）； the amount of MMP-2 in cell supernatant of the treatment concentration groups of 10μg/mL、 20μg/mL、 30μg/mL and 40μg/mL was obviously lower than that of the blank group（P<0.05）. Conclusion HTJD repress the capacity of gastric cancer cell line SGC-7901 on invasion and matastasis. Its mechanism is likely related to down -regulating the expression level of MMP-2 and increasing the expression level of E-cadherin.