Abstract: Objective To observe the effects of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) alone and radiofrequency ablation (RFA) on serum T lymphocyte subsets and transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) levels in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after treatment, so as to provide reference for further improving the therapeutic effect of HCC patients. Methods Seventy-two patients with HCC admitted to our hospital from January 2016 to June 2018 were randomly divided into two groups. The control group was TACE group and the observation group was TACE combined with RFA group. The changes of T lymphocyte subsets (CD4⁺, CD8⁺, CD4⁺/CD8⁺) and TGF-β1 in peripheral blood of the two groups before and after treatment were detected respectively. The data were analyzed by SPSS 23.0 statistical software. Results There was no significant difference in serum CD4⁺, CD8⁺, CD4⁺/CD8⁺ between the control group and the observation group before treatment (all P>0.05). At the 2nd and 4th weeks after treatment, the serum CD4⁺ and CD4⁺/CD8+ of the observation group were higher than those of the control group (all P<0.05), while CD8+ was lower than that of the control group (all P<0.05). Before treatment, there was no significant difference in the level of serum TGF-β1 between the control group and the observation group (P>0.05). At the 2nd and 4th weeks after treatment, the level of serum TGF-β1 in the observation group was lower than that in the control group (all P<0.05). The total effective rate of the control group was 72.22%, while that of the observation group was 91.67%. The total effective rate of the observation group was higher than that of the control group (P<0.05). Conclusion TACE treatment can temporarily inhibit the cellular immunity of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. With the prolongation of time, the cellular immune function of patients recovers to a certain extent, while TACE combined with RFA treatment can enhance the cellular immune function.