Thyroid carcinoma is characterized by an aggressive behavior, lack of effective targeted therapies and a high rate of relapse. Sphingosine kinase 1 (SPHK1) has been reported to be a critical regulatory factor in the progression of thyroid carcinoma, but the correlation between SPHK1 and clinical prognosis of patients with thyroid carcinoma has remained to be fully elucidated. The present study aimed to systematically assess the roles of SPHK1 in thyroid carcinoma metastasis and further investigate the possible underlying mechanisms. First, the expression of SPHK1 was detected in tissue samples from 53 thyroid carcinoma patients and in thyroid carcinoma cell lines by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis. Furthermore, the level of phospho-(p)-SPHK1 was immunohistochemically detected in human thyroid carcinoma tissue samples. The activity of SPHK1 was measured with a commercial SPHK1 Activity Assay kit. A sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) competitive ELISA kit was used to determine the extracellular S1P levels. The metastatic potential was assessed by a Transwell assay. In addition, the association between SPHK1 and clinicopathological features of the patients was analyzed. The results indicated that the expression of SPHK1 in thyroid carcinoma samples was significantly higher than in paired adjacent normal thyroid tissues. High levels of SPHK1 were positively correlated with poor overall survival and progression-free survival. Downregulation of SPHK1 by lentiviral vector expressing SPHK1 small interfering (si)RNA evidently repressed Notch signaling and reduced the migration and invasion of thyroid carcinoma cells and in a NOD/SCID mouse model. Furthermore, inhibition of SPHK1 by siRNA or treatment with SPHK1 inhibitor 5C sensitized thyroid carcinoma to cisplatin and doxorubicin. In addition, it was demonstrated that silencing of SPHK1 effectively inhibits processes associated with thyroid carcinoma metastasis through the Notch signaling pathway, and SPHK1 may therefore represent a potential therapeutic target in thyroid carcinoma. In conclusion, the present study indicated that high levels of p-SPHK1 were positively correlated with high levels of S1P which in turn promoted thyroid carcinoma metastasis via the S1P/S1P receptor 3/Notch signaling pathway, suggesting possible prognostic markers and therapeutic targets.