The Men's singles table tennis event was a part of the Table Tennis program and took place at the Peking University Gymnasium.

77 athletes from 44 countries took part in the men's singles event.

The top 16 seeds in the tournament received a bye to the third round.

[1] Seeds for the draw of the Olympics were based on the ITTF world ranking list published on July 1, 2008.

[2][3] The top 16 seeded players qualified directly to the third round.