Objective To study the effects of survivin antisense RNA on SGC7901 cell’s apoptosis and chemosensitivity to taxotere, and to investigate its effect on the expression of multi-drug resistance gene-1 (MDR-1). Methods Survivin antisense eukaryotic vector anti-pcDNA3-svv was transfected into SGC7901 cell lines by lipofectamine and positive clones were screened out then. Survivin protein and MDR-1 mRNA were measured by western blot and RT-PCR, respectively. Apoptosis that was induced by anti-pcDNA3-svv was observed by electronic microscope, and the sensitivity of SGC7901 cell to taxotere was examined by MTT. Results The expressions of survivin protein and MDR-1 mRNA in transfected SGC7901 cells both decreased more significantly than that of non-transfected cells (P＜0.05， P＜0.01), and the indices of MDR of transfection group and non-transfection group were 0.196±0.013 and 3.126±0.019, respectively, at the late phase of apoptosis, which had a significant difference between each other (P＜0.01), IC50 of the transfected cells to taxotere was （16.7±1.98） ng/ml and that of the non-transfected cells was (55.7±1.89) ng/ml, which also had a significant difference (P＜0.01). Conclusion Surivivin antisense RNA could induce the apoptosis of SGC7901 cancer cell line and could increase the cells’ sensitivity to taxotere, which may help to reverse drug resistance.