Objective: To compare the efficacy of taxane-based regimens in the first line setting retrospectively in Chinese patients with recurrent and/or metastatic esophageal cancer. Methods: We analyzed 102 recurrent and/or metastatic esophageal cancer patients who received taxanes-based regimens in a first-line setting from January 2009 to December 2013. Sixteen (15.7%) patients were administered Nab-PTX based chemotherapy and 86 patients (84.3%) received paclitaxel (PTX) or docetaxel (DTX) based chemotherapy. Patients in the PTX/DTX group could be further divided into TP (71 patients) and TPF (15 patients) groups. Results: The objective response rate (ORR) of all patients was 20.6%, and the disease control rate (DCR) was 67.6%. The median overall survival (OS) was 10.5 months (95% CI 10.1-16.4) and the median progression-free survival (PFS) was 6.04 months (95% CI 5.09-7.91). The DCR was higher in the TPF group than the TP group (93.3% vs. 59.1%; p = 0.015 ). There were no significant differences in ORR, OS, and PFS among Nab-PTX, TPF and TP groups. Conclusions: The three regimens of Nab-PTX based, TP and TPF proved active in a first line setting of Chinese patients with recurrent and/or metastatic esophageal cancer, and should thus be regarded as alternative treatments.