Abstract Background Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CTRT) can effectively downstage esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in patients with locally advanced disease and prolonged survival have been observed in patients with a pathological complete response (ypCR). Aims and methods This exploratory study aimed to identify immunological predictors of pCR after neoadjuvant CTRT within SCC microenvironment. The tumor regression after neoadjuvant therapy was measured according to the Mandard score system. Eighty‐eight consecutive patients with SCC of the thoracic esophagus who received neoadjuvant CTRT were included in this retrospective study. Inclusion criteria were neoadjuvant CTRT and the availability of representative histological samples taken at diagnosis. We investigated immunohistochemical expression of CD4, Tbet, FoxP3, CD8, CD80, PD‐L1, and PD‐1, in the pretreatment biopsies and correlated the immunohistochemical profiles to patients’ outcomes. Results After neoadjuvant CTRT, 23 patients had pCR, while 65 ones had partial response, stable disease or progression. PD‐L1 expression and CD8+ and CD4+ lymphocyte rate were significantly higher in patients who had ypCR compared to those who had not (10 (0‐55) vs 0 (0‐0), P = 0.004, 73 (36‐147) vs 21 (7‐47), P = 0.0006 and 39 (23‐74) vs 5 (0‐13), P