Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-overexpressed breast cancer is known to be more aggressive and resistant to medicinal treatment and therefore to whom an alternative therapeutics is needed. Indocyanine green (ICG) has been widely exploited in breast cancer phototherapy. However, drawbacks of accelerated degradation and short half-life (2–4 min) in blood seriously hamper its use in the clinic. To overcome these challenges, an anti-HER2 ICG-encapsulated polyethylene glycol-coated poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) nanoparticles (HIPPNPs) were developed in this study. Through the analyses of degradation rate coefficients of ICG with and without polymeric encapsulation, the photostability of HIPPNP-entrapped ICG significantly enhanced 4 folds (P < 0.05) while its thermal stabilities at 4 and 37°C significantly enhanced 5 and 3 (P < 0.05 for each) folds, respectively, under equal lighting and/or heating treatment for 48 h. The target specificity of HIPPNPs to HER2-positive cells was demonstrated based on a 6-fold (P < 0.05) enhancement of uptake efficiency of HIPPNPs in MDA-MB-453/HER2(+) cells within 4 h as compared with that in MCF7/HER2(-) cells. Moreover, the HIPPNPs with ≤ 25 μM ICG equivalent were nontoxic to cells in the absence of light illumination, and enabled to generate similar amount of singlet oxygen and hyperthermia effect as compared with that used by free ICG upon NIR irradiation. After 808 nm-laser irradiation with intensity of 6 W/cm2 for 5 min, the viability of MDA-MB-453 cells pre-treated by HIPPNPs with ≥ 5 μM ICG equivalent for 4 h significantly reduced as compared with that treated by equal concentration of free ICG (P < 0.05) and > 90% of the cells were eradicated while the dose of HIPPNPs was increased to 25 μM ICG equivalent. In summary, the developed HIPPNPs are anticipated as a feasible tool for use in phototherapy of breast cancer cells with HER2 expression.