Wild-type p53-induced phosphatase (Wipl) is an established oncogene and is associated with development of multiple forms of human cancer. However, the expression and role of Wipl in human bladder transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) remains to be elucidated. In the present study, immunohistochemistry demonstrated that Wipl was overexpressed in bladder TCC tissues compared with corresponding normal bladder tissues in 106 bladder TCC cases (P<0.0001). Furthermore, high expression levels of Wipl were significantly associated with increasing tumor size (P=0.002), pathological grade (P=0.025), clinical T stage (P=0.001) and lymph nodal metastasis (P=0.003). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis identified that patients with high Wipl expression levels exhibited a lower overall survival time (P<0.0001), and Cox proportional hazards regression model analysis demonstrated that Wipl expression was an independent prognostic factor in patients with bladder TCC (P=0.025). In addition, downregulation of Wipl expression by transfection with small interfering RNA in bladder cancer cells inhibited cell proliferation, invasion and migration (P<0.05), along with the upregulation of p53 protein levels (P<0.05). These findings suggest that Wipl may function as a potential prognostic marker and therapeutic target in bladder cancer.