The present invention relates to peptides and derivatives thereof showing cell attachment, spreading and detachment activity. Particularly, the present invention relates to the peptide NKDIL (SEQ ID NO:2) and EPDIM (SEQ ID NO:3) and derivatives thereof which promote the cell attachment activity through interaction with .alpha.3.beta.1 integrin as a functional cell receptor and include aspartic acid and isoleucine essential for cell attachment and detachment activity. The peptides and derivatives thereof in the present invention can be used for developing a study of cell attachment activity mediated through various extracellular matrix protein containing .beta.ig-h3, wound healing, tissue regeneration and metastasis inhibition.