Objective: To explore the value of gadolinium-ethoxybenzyl-diethylenetriamine (Gd-EOB-DTPA) enhanced MRI T₁ mapping in diagnosing and distinguishing dysplastic nodule (DN) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with different degrees of differentiation. Methods: A retrospective study in the first affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University from September 2015 to December 2017 was conducted. Seventy-one patients with HCC or DN (a total of 79 lesions) that confirmed by biopsy or surgical pathology findings. Seventy-nine lesions were divided into DN (n=10), well differentiated HCC (n=15), moderately differentiated HCC (n=36) and poorly differentiated HCC (n=18) according to histopathology. All the patients underwent plain MRI scan and Gd-EOB-DTPA-MRI T₁ mapping before surgery or needle biopsy. The T₁ values of each lesion and non-tumorous liver parenchyma were measured on 20 min hepatobiliary phase (HBP) T₁ mapping after Gd-EOB-DTPA administration, respectively. The increment rate of T₁ value in lesions relative to non-tumorous liver parenchyma were calculated. One-way ANOVA was used to compare the differences of T₁ value and the increment rate of T₁ value of DN and 3 groups of HCC with different degrees of differentiation. Spearman correlation was used to evaluate the correlation between T₁ mapping parameters and the malignancy degree of DN and HCC. Area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate the efficacy of T₁ mapping parameters in the differential diagnosis of DN and HCC with different degree of differentiation. Results: Significant differences were found in T₁ value and increase rate of T₁ value of DN and HCC with different degrees of differentiation (P< 0.05). The T₁ value and increase rate of T₁ value showed an increasing trend from DN to poorly differentiated HCC after enhancement. The T₁ value and increase rate of T₁ value were positively correlated with the malignancy of DN and HCC (r=0.418 and 0.634, P<0.01). There were significant differences in the increase rate of T₁ value between well-differentiated HCC and moderately-differentiated, well-differentiated HCC and poorly-differentiated HCC, respectively (P<0.05). The area under ROC curve of T₁ value and the increase rate of T₁ value for differentiating DN from well-differentiated, moderately differentiated and poorly differentiated HCC was 0.933, 0.928, 0.939 and 0.867, 0.961, 0.961, respectively. The area under ROC curve of the increase rate of T₁ value for differentiating well-differentiated HCC from moderately-differentiated, well-differentiated HCC from poorly-differentiated HCC was 0.770 and 0.844, respectively. Conclusions Gd-EOB-DTPA enhanced MRI combined with T₁ mapping can provide valuable diagnostic information for identifying DN and HCC with different degrees of differentiation.