Cervical cancer is a prevalent malignancy among women worldwide. Long-chain non-coding rna (lncRNAs) play a key role in the development of several cancers. Here, we found that the expression of lncRNA NEAT1 was significantly increased in cervical cancer cells and tissues and was closely associated with poor patient prognosis. Subsequently, we found that down-regulation of NEAT1 inhibited the proliferation, migration and invasion of cervical cancer cells. Subsequent studies showed that NEAT1, a competitive endogenous RNA, effectively enhanced RAC1 expression by adsorbing miR-101-3p. Glycolysis-related genes were predicted to be enriched in cervical cancers with high NEAT1 expression by bioinformatics analysis and confirmed by in vivo experiments. Our results suggest that NEAT1 enhances the Warburg effect through the miR-101-3p/RAC1 axis and promotes the proliferation, migration and invasion of cervical cancer cells. Therefore, elucidating this potential mechanism and targeting the NEAT1/miR-101-3p/RAC1 pathway may provide valuable insights.