Technological innovation (TI) is the driving high-quality economic development. Based on time-series data of Wuxi from 2011 to 2024, this paper employs fixed effects, mediation, and moderation models to examine the mechanisms. The results show that TI significantly enhances economic development. Mechanistically, TI promotes high-quality economic development by strengthening human capital accumulation and upgrading industrial structure. Additionally, environmental regulation positively moderates this relationship. Therefore, this paper proposes policy recommendations, including strengthening investment, upgrading industrial structure, and optimizing the environmental regulation.