Long non-coding RNAs have been reported to play an important role in cellular metabolism and development. Homeobox transcript antisense intergenic RNA (HOTAIR), a long non-coding RNA, is pervasively over-expressed in most human cancers compared with non-cancerous adjacent tissues. Although many articles have reported that HOTAIR is closely associated with metastasis, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, advanced pathological stage, drug resistance, and poor prognosis, the role of HOTAIR in gene regulation and tumor development is largely unknown, and the potential molecular mechanisms are not completely clear yet. In this review, we summarized the recent progress in the study of the major functions of HOTAIR. miR-331-3p, miR-130a, miR-7, miR-141, HER2, c-MYC, WIF-1, RBM38, PTEN, and Col-1 are involved in the HOTAIR regulation network. We tried to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of HOTAIR in the aspects of tumorigenesis, metastasis, drug resistance, and regulation. © The Author 2014. Published by ABBS Editorial Office in association with Oxford University Press on behalf of the Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences.