Pre-service teachers play a crucial role in fostering critical thinking among students to enhance their effectiveness in the 21st century. This systematic review examines 43 empirical studies to gain deeper insights into the concept of critical thinking in teacher education. We identified two primary definitions of critical thinking: the logical sense and value sense, both rooted in a discipline-oriented framework. The findings indicate that the logical sense, particularly the philosophical approach, predominantly informs research conducted on pre-service teachers. However, when it comes to critical thinking disposition, research results often fall short in demonstrating significant development, underscoring the contextual nature of critical thinking. Critical thinking is a sociological research method used to logically evaluate a problem by creating awareness of problematic knowledge and social situations. After analysing the influence of the relationship between critical thinking and research on critical thinking development in pre-service teachers, our findings suggest that there are limitations to cultivating critical thinking; further verification is needed regarding pre-service teachers' ability to transfer critical thinking among various contexts or situations. This review emphasises the significance of embracing the multifaceted and context-bound aspects of critical thinking and good judgment for thinking quality in pre-service teacher education research.