Objective: To evaluate the relationship between expression of Tc17 cells in tumor microenvironment and prognosis in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Methods: The expression of Tc17 cells were examined by immunohistochemistry in 69 specimens of ESCC tissues. The relationship of expression of Tc17 cells with clinicopathological characteristics and its effect on prognosis were analyzed by combining clinical and follow-up visit data. Results: The expression of Tc17 cells in ESCC nests was significantly higher than that in the paracancerous stroma (P<0.001). But there was no significant correlation between the expression levels of Tc17 cells and patients’ gender, age, tumor size, tumor site, tumor differentiation grade, infiltration depth, lymph node metastasis, and TNM stage (P>0.05). The survival analysis demonstrated that patients with higher expression of Tc17 cells were associated with better overall survival (P<0.05). Further analysis showed that patients in early ESCC with higher expression of Tc17 cells was significantly associated with better survival (P=0.017). Although patients in advanced ESCC with higher expression of Tc17 cells displayed better survival, there was no statistically significant (P=0.0742).Conclusion: The expression of Tc17 cells increases in tumor microenvironment and prolonges overall survival of ESCC patients, especially in the early stage, which may be used as a potential predictive molecular marker for ESCC.