Dependency injection is a software design pattern that allows the decoupling of dependencies of classes and objects. It involves implementing inversion of control by supplying object dependencies externally rather than hardcoding them. There are three main implementation techniques: factories, service locators, and dependency injection. Dependency injection frameworks help manage object instantiation and wiring dependencies automatically based on configuration. This improves code readability, maintainability, and testability compared to traditional hardcoding of dependencies.