Abstract: There is not only similarity but also difference between skin tumor stem cells and skin stem cells. Recently, some surface markers and related signal transduction pathway have been identified for skin tumor stem cells, such as CD34, CD44, members of ATP-binding cassette transporter (ABC) family, integrin,P63, CD20, keratin 15, 17 and 19, Wnt/β-catenin/c-myc pathway, Hedgehog/Shh pathways. The relationship between specific cell surface markers for skin tumor stem cells and signaling pathways has become the focus of researches into skin tumor stem cells. To clarify the similarity and difference in surface markers between skin tumor stem cells and skin stem cells will help to understand the pathogenic mechanism of skin tumor stem cells, and to offer new ideas for researches of initiation, progression, metastasis and effective treatment of skin tumors.