In this paper, the subequation method and the sine-cosine method are improved to give a set of traveling wave solutions for the time-fractional generalized Fitzhugh–Nagumo equation with time-dependent coefficients involving the conformable fractional derivative. Various structures of solutions such as the hyperbolic function solutions, the trigonometric function solutions, and the rational solutions are constructed. These solutions may be useful to describe several physical applications. The results show that these methods are shown to be affective and easy to apply for this type of nonlinear fractional partial differential equations (NFPDEs) with time-dependent coefficients.