The present teaching relates to recommending content items to a user based on tensor factorization. In one example, a request is received for recommending content items to the user. Tensor data related to a plurality of users and a plurality of content items are obtained based on the request. The tensor data is decomposed into a plurality of sub-tensors based on a prior probability distribution. At least one bound is determined for a tensor factorization model that is generated based on the prior probability distribution. One or more items interesting to the user are predicted based on the at least one bound and the plurality of sub-tensors. At least one of the one or more items is recommended to the user as a response to the request.