Adoptive cell transfer (ACT) of tumor infiltrating or genetically engineered T cells is an effective immunotherapy in patients with metastatic cancer, but without additional therapies such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy, the effect was diminished and the tumor regression was also transient. To develop more effective adoptive T cell transfer therapy, central memory T cell (TCM) was expanded in vitro using IL-15 followed by transferring them into mice with B16-OVA melanoma. We found that TCM conferred a prolonged suppression of tumor growth whereas effector T cell (TEFF) cultured by IL-2 showed shorter suppression for tumor growth, which was correlated with sustained high number of tumor-specific CD8 T cells in spleen from IL-15 group. Interestingly, the expression of MHC-Ⅰ in the tumor from IL-15 group was upregulated which suggested that the cross presentation in IL-15 group was efficient. These data collectively suggested that IL-15 treated CD8 T cells elicit more effective anti-tumor response than IL-2 treated CD8 T cells owing to sustained tumor-specific CD8 T cells in spleen. Furthermore, expression of MHC-Ⅰwas upregulated in tumor in response to IL-15 mediated adoptive T cell transfer, suggesting that antigen presenting cells (APCs) were involved in adoptive T cell transfer. Our research may have implications for developing more effective tumor immunotherapy.