jQuery ajax upload file in asp.net mvc

You can't upload files via ajax, you need to use an iFrame or some other trickery to do a full postback. This is mainly due to security concerns.

Here's a decent write-up including a sample project using SWFUpload and ASP.Net MVC by Steve Sanderson. It's the first thing I read getting this working properly with Asp.Net MVC (I was new to MVC at the time as well), hopefully it's as helpful for you.

Upload files using AJAX in ASP.Net MVC

Things have changed since HTML5

JavaScript

document.getElementById('uploader').onsubmit = function () {
    var formdata = new FormData(); //FormData object
    var fileInput = document.getElementById('fileInput');
    //Iterating through each files selected in fileInput
    for (i = 0; i < fileInput.files.length; i++) {
        //Appending each file to FormData object
        formdata.append(fileInput.files[i].name, fileInput.files[i]);
    }
    //Creating an XMLHttpRequest and sending
    var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
    xhr.open('POST', '/Home/Upload');
    xhr.send(formdata);
    xhr.onreadystatechange = function () {
        if (xhr.readyState == 4 && xhr.status == 200) {
            alert(xhr.responseText);
        }
    }
    return false;
}   

Controller

public JsonResult Upload()
{
    for (int i = 0; i < Request.Files.Count; i++)
    {
        HttpPostedFileBase file = Request.Files[i]; //Uploaded file
        //Use the following properties to get file's name, size and MIMEType
        int fileSize = file.ContentLength;
        string fileName = file.FileName;
        string mimeType = file.ContentType;
        System.IO.Stream fileContent = file.InputStream;
        //To save file, use SaveAs method
        file.SaveAs(Server.MapPath("~/")+ fileName ); //File will be saved in application root
    }
    return Json("Uploaded " + Request.Files.Count + " files");
}