MicroRNA-194 (miR-194) is frequently dysregulated in many types of cancer. However, the function of miR-194 in glioma remains unknown. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the biological functions of miR-194 in glioma and the potential molecular mechanism of miR-194 involved in glioma progression. We found that miR-194 expression was significantly reduced in glioma specimens and cell lines, as detected by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) analysis. The overexpression of miR-194 inhibited while the suppression of miR-194 promoted cell migration, invasion and epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) in glioma cells. Bioinformatics analysis showed that the B cell -specific moloney murine leukemia virus insertion site 1 (Bmi1) was a direct target of miR-194, which was validated by Dual-Luciferase reporter assay, RT-qPCR and western blot analysis. The restoration of Bmil expression significantly abrogated the suppressive effect of miR-194 on glioma cell EMT. Taken together, the present study suggests that miR-194 inhibits glioma cell EMT by targeting Bmil providing novel insights into understanding the pathogenesis of glioma. The restoration of miR-194 may be a potential therapeutic strategy for glioma treatment.