Objective To investigate the expression of long non-coding RNA SBF2-AS1 in lung cancer tissues and its effect on growth and apoptosis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods qRT-PCR was used to test the expression of SBF2-AS1 in 51 lung cancer tissues and matched adjacent normal tissues. Its correlations with the clinical parameters were analyzed. siRNA was used to knock down SBF2-AS1 expression in A549 and H1299 cells, its roles in cell growth and apoptosis were investigated by MTT and flow cytometry. Results The expression of SBF2-AS1 in the lung cancer tissues was significantly upregulated as compared with the matched adjacent normal tissues. Increased SBF2-AS1 expression was significantly correlated with tumor stage and lymph node metastasis. Knocking down SBF2-AS1 significantly reduced cell growth, promoted cell apoptosis, and resulted in cell cycle arrest at G1/G0 phase. Conclusions High expression of SBF2-AS1 is involved in lung cancer progression and SBF2-AS1 may be a potential target for diagnosis of NSCLC and gene therapy.