Several researches reported that overexpression of SIRT1 was associated with poor survival in several human cancers. However, some researches reported that SIRT1 had an antitumor potential. The definite role of SIRT1 is not clear now, and few studies have documented the value of SIRT1 in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate the role of SIRT1 in TNBC and non-TNBC for prognosis. A total of 51 TNBC patients and 83 non-TNBC patients who were diagnosed from October 2001 to September 2006 were involved in this study. Immunohistochemical staining for SIRT1 and p53 on tissue microarrays were used. Expression of SIRT1 was seen in 55 % of TNBC patients and 53 % of non-TNBC patients. Expression of SIRT1 was associated with lymph nodes status, stage, distant metastatic relapse, and p53 status in TNBC patients. Expression of SIRT1 in non-TNBC patients was significantly correlated with lymph nodes status, age, stage, distant metastatic relapse, PR status, and p53 status. SIRT1+ group was associated with shorter DFS and OS compared with SIRT1- group in TNBC, non-TNBC, and overall breast cancer patients, according to univariate Cox regression analysis. Our study provides evidence that expression of SIRT is associated with worse prognosis in TNBC and non-TNBC and SIRT1 could be a potential therapeutic target in breast cancer.