Reducing the size of Docker images is crucial for faster deployments, quicker pulls, and improved security.Ways to minimize Node.js Docker image size include using Alpine and Distroless images, multi-stage builds, and caching strategies.Alpine images are smaller than Debian-based images, while multi-stage builds help exclude unnecessary tools from the final image.Distroless images are even smaller than Alpine images, but logging and monitoring efforts are needed for issue diagnosis.