Abstract The epidermis is the outermost layer of skin and the first barrier against invasion. Dendritic epidermal T cells (DETCs) are a subset of γδ T cells and an important component of the epidermal immune microenvironment. DETCs are involved in skin wound healing, malignancy and autoimmune diseases. DETCs secrete insulin-like growth factor-1 and keratinocyte growth factor for skin homeostasis and re-epithelization and release inflammatory factors to adjust the inflammatory microenvironment of wound healing. Therefore, an understanding of their development, activation and correlative signalling pathways is indispensable for the regulation of DETCs to accelerate wound healing. Our review focuses on the above-mentioned molecular mechanisms to provide a general research framework to regulate and control the function of DETCs.