Objective To measure the expressions of HSP10 and 60 in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and solar keratosis (AK) tissue. Methods Lesion samples were resected from patients with SCC (n = 50), BCC (n = 50) and AK (n = 50), and control samples were obtained from the normal skin adjacent to the operation sites of 14 of the 50 patients with SCC, BCC and AK. Immunohistochemical Envision two step method was used to detect the expression of HSP60 and 10 in the tissue samples.Results The expression of HSP10 was significantly higher in BCC tissue samples (Z = 3.24, P ＜ 0.001 ), but not in AK (Z= 0.74, P＞ 0.05) or SCC (Z= 0.52, P＞ 0.05) tissue samples than in the normal control tissue samples. Statistical significance was observed in the expression of HSP10 between AK and SCC and between AK and BCC tissue samples (both P ＜ 0.05), but not between SCC and BCC tissue samples (P ＞ 0.05 ). Elevated expression of HSP60 was found in AK, BCC and SCC tissue samples compared with the control samples (Z =-2.90, -2.15, -2.78,P ＜ 0.01, 0.05 and 0.01, respectively). Furthermore, the expression of HSP60 in SCC tissue samples was higher than that in BCC tissue samples (P ＜ 0.05 ) but similar to that in AK tissue samples. Conclusions There is likely to be a correlation between the high expression of HSP60 and biological behavior of SCC, and between the elevated HSP60 and HSP10 expressions and BCC initiation and development.