Introduction: Poorly water-soluble curcumin have limited penetration through stratum corneum after its topical administration and therefore advanced formulation is warranted. Objectives: The present study aimed to formulate and evaluate a TPGS stabilised nanoemulsion based topical gel of curcumin. Methods: The nanoemulsion was formulated using Sefsol-218:TPGS (1:1), Tween 60 and Solutol HS 15 as the oil phase, surfactant and cosurfactant respectively based on the results of solubility studies and miscibility studies using aqueous titration method followed by ultrasonication. Results: The formulated nanoemulsion exhibited a pH of 5.86 __ampersandsignplusmn; 0.018, percentage transmittance of 99.31__ampersandsignplusmn; 0.710, particle size and polydispersity index of 195.3 and 0.153 respectively and in vitro release of 90.1%, which was significantly higher (p__ampersandsignle;0.05) as compared to that of drug suspension which exhibited a drug release of 43.9%. The results of in vitro skin permeation stud ies revealed that optimised nanoemulsion formulation exhibited a permeation of 78.7% which was significantly higher (p__ampersandsignle;0.05) than the Curcumin suspension (37.61%) after 8 h study. The flux 143.7 (__ampersandsignmicro;g/cm2 /h) and permeability coefficient 9.58__ampersandsigntimes;10-2 of optimised nanoemulsion was significantly higher (p__ampersandsignle;0.05) as compared to drug suspension which exhibits 65.85 __ampersandsignmicro;g/cm2 /h flux and 4.39__ampersandsigntimes;10-2 permeability coefficient. From drug retention studies it was observed that a significantly higher (p__ampersandsignle;0.05) percent age of Curcumin was retained in the skin after nanoemulsion application (7.46%) in comparison to drug suspension (3.73%). Further, the results of the histopathological evaluation conducted using excised skin of rats confirmed that the curcumin loaded nanoemulsion was safe for topical application. Conclusion: The results of the study established that the formulated curcumin loaded nanoemulsion could be used topically for the treatment of various skin infections.