Purpose Luminal subtype breast cancer is defined as oestrogen receptor (ER)-and/or progesterone receptor (PR)positive breast cancer. We detected the expression of ER-alpha, ER-beta 1 and ER-beta 2 in the tissue samples of invasive luminal subtype breast cancer patients, evaluated the correlations between these ER statuses and prognosis, and tried to clarify whether the status of ER-alpha isoforms provides clinically useful information further to what is already provided by the traditional ER-alpha/PR assay. Methods The expression of ER-alpha, ER-beta 1 and ER-beta 2 in the paraffin-embedded sections of 162 invasive luminal subtype breast cancer patients was detected with an immunohistochemical staining method. With mid-long-term follow-up, the features of ER-alpha, ER-beta 1 and ER-beta 2 status and the correlations between clinical characteristics and the prognosis were analysed. Results ER-beta 1-positive status was correlated with PR (rs=0.217, p<0.01). The median follow-up time was 92 months (range, 4-98 months). Univariate analysis suggested that ER-beta 1 status was significantly correlated to disease-free survival (DFS) time (log rank=3.98, p=0.046), especially in patients with positive lymph nodes (log rank=6.20, p=0.013). In patients with smaller tumour size (<= 20 mm), negative ER-beta 2 status was significantly correlated to overall survival time (log rank=3.87, p=0.049). Conclusions In invasive luminal subtype breast cancers, ER-beta 1 is correlated with good prognosis and could be regarded as one of the factors for evaluating DFS time, especially in lymph node-positive patients. There may be some interactions between ER-beta 1 and PR. In clinical practice, besides routine detection of ER-alpha and PR in invasive luminal subtype breast cancers, immunohistochemical staining of ER-beta 1 and ER-beta 2 should be considered in order to achieve more useful information. Further studies are needed to confirm our findings.