The tumor growth and metastasis is the leading reason for the high mortality of breast cancer. Herein, it is first reported a deep tumor-penetrating photothermal nanotherapeutics loading a near-infrared (NIR) probe for potential photothermal therapy (PTT) of tumor growth and metastasis of breast cancer. The NIR probe of 1,1-dioctadecyl-3,3,3,3-tetramethylindotricarbocyanine iodide (DiR), a lipophilicfluorescent carbocyanine dye with strong light-absorbing capability, is entrapped into the photothermal nanotherapeutics for PTT application. The DiR-loaded photothermal nanotherapeutics (DPN) is homogeneous nanometer-sized particles with the mean diameter of 24.5 +/- 4.1 nm. Upon 808 nm laser irradiation, DPN presents superior production of thermal energy than free DiR both in vitro and in vivo. The cell proliferation and migration activities of metastatic 4T1 breast cancer cells are obviously inhibited by DPN in combination with NIR irradiation. Moreover, DPN can induce a higher accumulation in tumor and penetrate into the deep interior of tumor tissues. The in vivo PTT measurements indicate that the growth and metastasis of breast cancer are entirely inhibited by a single treatment of DPN with NIR irradiation. Therefore, the deep tumor-penetrating DPN can provide a promising strategy for PTT of tumor progression and metastasis of breast cancer.