A recent discovery revealed that microRNAs (miRNAs) have an essential effect in the development and progression of gastric cancer (GC). It has already been shown that miR-125a may inhibit tumor development by targeting human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (Her-2) in GC; however, the other roles of miR-125a in gastric cancer remained to be explored. Our study confirmed that miR-125a was indeed capable of modulating the expression of VEGF-A in gastric cancer cells. In vitro, low expression of miR-125a was able to maintain the secretion of VEGF-A, while the latter increased Akt phosphorylation level in endothelial cells and thereby promoted the proliferation, migration and angiogenesis of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Our investigation showed that miR-125a expression decreased significantly in gastric cancer comparing with normal gastric tissue and was negatively correlated with the expression of VEGF-A (P<0.05). In vivo, the expression of miR-125a was inversely proportional to microvessel density (MVD) (r=-0.5382, P<0.001). The results of this study suggested that low expression of miR-125a predict a worse survival in gastric cancer patients. Collectively, our results indicated that miR-125a regulated the paracrine of VEGF-A in gastric cancer and thereby controlled the angiogenesis of the tumor.