Esophageal cancer is one of the most prevalent forms of cancer and has a particularly high mortality rate due to early metastasis; however, the underlying mechanisms of its formation and progression remain unclear. The present study performed immunohistochemical analysis and observed that the expression of activating transcription factor 3 (ATF3) was reduced in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) in comparison with non-tumor adjacent tissues. By contrast, inhibitor of DNA binding 1 (ID1) was overexpressed in ESCC tissues, demonstrating an inverse correlation with ATF3 (P<0.01). In ESCC EC109 and KYSE450 cells lines, transfection with an ATF3-overexpression plasmid resulted in the inhibition of cell proliferation, motility and migration, which was associated with the induction of E-cadherin expression and inhibition of cyclin D1 and Twist. Notably, ATF3 exerted an inverse regulatory interaction with ID1. The results of the present study provide additional evidence of the tumor suppressive features of ATF3 and demonstrate a novel mechanism of ATF3-mediated inhibition of cancer metastasis in esophageal cancer.