Objective To compare the growth of three different cancer cell lines on chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM), to select the best transplanted cancer cell line for establishing a transplanted tumor model and to observe the biological characteristics. Methods The human lung cancer cell line A549, human tongue cancer cell line TCA8113 and human liver cancer cell line QGY7703 were respectively inoculated into CAM at the 7th day of age. The chick embryo survival rate, tumor survival rate, tumor formation rate and induced angiogenesis were detected and the growth characteristics of the transplanted tumor model were observed. Results Compared with the groups inoculated with A549 cells and QGY7703 cells, the tumor formation rate of TCA8113 cells was the highest (P< 0.05), to be the best cancer cell line for transplanted tumor. The optimal inoculated number of cells was 8.0×10⁶/chick embryo, the optimal growth period of the tumor was 4~8 d, and the best experiment time was 7 d after inoculation. Conclusion The TCA-CAM transplanted tumor model of tongue squamous cell cancer is successfully established for further study of the biological characteristics and mechanisms of tumor growth, angiogenesis, invasion and metastasis, and provide a good experimental animal model for anti-tumor drug screening.