The men's singles table tennis event was part of the table tennis programme at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. The event took place from Saturday 28 July to Thursday 2 August 2012 at ExCeL London. The tournament was a single elimination tournament with a third place playoff played between the two losing semi-finalists. In the 2008 event all three medals were won by Chinese athletes with Ma Lin taking gold.

Table tennis at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London took place from Saturday 28 July to Wednesday 8 August 2012 at ExCeL London. 174 athletes, 86 men and 88 women, competed in four events. Table tennis has appeared at the Summer Olympics on six previous occasions beginning with the 1988 Games in Seoul. In addition to men's and women's singles, the team events were staged for the second time since replacing doubles events at the 2008 Beijing Games. China was the defending champion in each of the Olympic events having won all 4 gold medals in 2008.