We examined the expression of the steroid and xenobiotic receptor (SXR) and evaluated its clinical significance in human epithelial ovarian carcinoma. One hundred forty‐one cases were examined using immunohistochemistry for SXR with archival specimens. All cases were scored using a semi‐quantitative histological scoring (HSCORE) method. Specimens with an HSCORE > 60 were regarded as SXR‐positive. Various clinicopathologic variables were examined. SXR showed significant differences in age, histology, grade, ERα and PR. SXR was detected in 35 of 141 (24.8%) ovarian cancer tissues. There was a statistically significant negative correlation between SXR‐positive status and both disease‐free survival and overall survival (P= 0.0415 and 0.0316, respectively), independent of stage (P= 0.0167 and 0.021, respectively). In multivariate analysis, SXR was a statistically independent risk factor for both disease‐free survival and overall survival (P= 0.049 and 0.0354). Our results support an association of SXR between ERα and PR in epithelial ovarian cancers. Our data suggest that SXR is a prognostic factor in epithelial ovarian cancer and may represent a useful marker to identify patients at risk of recurrence or death.