•Torsional deformation can affect the fretting fatigue behavior between wires.•The torsion of pearlite sheet is the key factor affecting fretting fatigue.•Fretting fatigue damage can change the contact form of rope strand steel wire. Fretting wear and torsional deformation of steel wire can reduce the performance of wire rope and threaten the safety of mine hoisting system. In this study, to explore the influence of different torsional deformation on the fretting fatigue wear behavior under multi-wire spiral contact, an experimental study was conducted on a self-made test apparatus. The results show that the increase of torsional deformation can reduce the breaking force of steel wire by about 2.6%, and reduce the bending fatigue performance by about 36.4%. In addition, the maximum wear depth, wear amount and coefficient of wear increase with the increase of torsional deformation. The torsion and deformation of the pearlite lamellae parallel to the tensile stress direction are the main reasons for the decrease of the wear resistance of the main steel wires. More torsional deformation makes the steel wire produce less furrow morphology in fretting fatigue wear. The main wear mechanism of steel wire with small torsional deformation is abrasive and tribochemical reactions, and the main wear mechanism of steel wire with large torsional deformation is surface fatigue and tribochemical reactions.