Try this...
I have used following code to read "xls and xlsx"
<?php
include 'excel_reader.php'; // include the class
$excel = new PhpExcelReader; // creates object instance of the class
$excel->read('excel_file.xls'); // reads and stores the excel file data
// Test to see the excel data stored in $sheets property
echo '<pre>';
var_export($excel->sheets);
echo '</pre>';
or
echo '<pre>';
print_r($excel->sheets);
echo '</pre>';
Reference:http://coursesweb.net/php-mysql/read-excel-file-data-php_pc