diff --git a/.github/workflows/test.yml b/.github/workflows/test.yml
index 8db3074c..7c2533bd 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test.yml
@@ -17,8 +17,7 @@ jobs:
       matrix:
         os: [Ubuntu]
         python-version: ["3.9", "3.10", "3.11", "3.12", "3.13"]
-        sphinx-version:
-          ["sphinx==6.0", "sphinx==6.2", "sphinx==7.0", "sphinx>=7.3"]
+        sphinx-version: ["sphinx==7.0", "sphinx==7.3", "sphinx>=7.4"]
         include:
           - os: Windows
             python-version: "3.12"
diff --git a/numpydoc/numpydoc.py b/numpydoc/numpydoc.py
index a04443b3..9417c177 100644
--- a/numpydoc/numpydoc.py
+++ b/numpydoc/numpydoc.py
@@ -39,19 +39,6 @@
 HASH_LEN = 12
 
 
-def _traverse_or_findall(node, condition, **kwargs):
-    """Triage node.traverse (docutils <0.18.1) vs node.findall.
-
-    TODO: This check can be removed when the minimum supported docutils version
-    for numpydoc is docutils>=0.18.1
-    """
-    return (
-        node.findall(condition, **kwargs)
-        if hasattr(node, "findall")
-        else node.traverse(condition, **kwargs)
-    )
-
-
 def rename_references(app, what, name, obj, options, lines):
     # decorate reference numbers so that there are no duplicates
     # these are later undecorated in the doctree, in relabel_references
@@ -92,12 +79,8 @@ def is_docstring_section(node):
             return False
 
     sibling_sections = itertools.chain(
-        _traverse_or_findall(
-            section_node,
-            is_docstring_section,
-            include_self=True,
-            descend=False,
-            siblings=True,
+        section_node.findall(
+            is_docstring_section, include_self=True, descend=False, siblings=True
         )
     )
     for sibling_section in sibling_sections:
@@ -116,7 +99,7 @@ def is_docstring_section(node):
 
 def relabel_references(app, doc):
     # Change 'hash-ref' to 'ref' in label text
-    for citation_node in _traverse_or_findall(doc, citation):
+    for citation_node in doc.findall(citation):
         if not _is_cite_in_numpydoc_docstring(citation_node):
             continue
         label_node = citation_node[0]
@@ -136,7 +119,7 @@ def matching_pending_xref(node):
                     and node[0].astext() == f"[{ref_text}]"
                 )
 
-            for xref_node in _traverse_or_findall(ref.parent, matching_pending_xref):
+            for xref_node in ref.parent.findall(matching_pending_xref):
                 xref_node.replace(xref_node[0], Text(f"[{new_text}]"))
             ref.replace(ref_text, new_text.copy())
 
@@ -144,14 +127,14 @@ def matching_pending_xref(node):
 def clean_backrefs(app, doc, docname):
     # only::latex directive has resulted in citation backrefs without reference
     known_ref_ids = set()
-    for ref in _traverse_or_findall(doc, reference, descend=True):
+    for ref in doc.findall(reference, descend=True):
         for id_ in ref["ids"]:
             known_ref_ids.add(id_)
     # some extensions produce backrefs to inline elements
-    for ref in _traverse_or_findall(doc, inline, descend=True):
+    for ref in doc.findall(inline, descend=True):
         for id_ in ref["ids"]:
             known_ref_ids.add(id_)
-    for citation_node in _traverse_or_findall(doc, citation, descend=True):
+    for citation_node in doc.findall(citation, descend=True):
         # remove backrefs to non-existent refs
         citation_node["backrefs"] = [
             id_ for id_ in citation_node["backrefs"] if id_ in known_ref_ids
diff --git a/numpydoc/tests/test_full.py b/numpydoc/tests/test_full.py
index 9ab241fa..0372d15c 100644
--- a/numpydoc/tests/test_full.py
+++ b/numpydoc/tests/test_full.py
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
 import shutil
 
 import pytest
-from docutils import __version__ as docutils_version
-from packaging import version
 from sphinx.application import Sphinx
 from sphinx.util.docutils import docutils_namespace
 
@@ -90,14 +88,9 @@ def test_reference(sphinx_app, html_file, expected_length):
     with open(op.join(out_dir, *html_file)) as fid:
         html = fid.read()
 
-    # TODO: This check can be removed when the minimum supported docutils version
-    # for numpydoc is docutils>=0.18
-    pattern = (
-        'role="doc-backlink"'
-        if version.parse(docutils_version) >= version.parse("0.18")
-        else 'class="fn-backref"'
+    reference_list = re.findall(
+        r'<a role="doc-backlink" href="\#id\d+">(.*)<\/a>', html
     )
-    reference_list = re.findall(rf'<a {pattern} href="\#id\d+">(.*)<\/a>', html)
 
     assert len(reference_list) == expected_length
     for ref in reference_list:
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 04f18d86..25a91073 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -28,9 +28,9 @@ classifiers = [
     'Topic :: Documentation',
 ]
 dependencies = [
-    'sphinx>=6',
+    'sphinx>=7',
     'tabulate>=0.8.10',
-    "tomli>=1.1.0;python_version<'3.11'",
+    "tomli>=2.1.0;python_version<'3.11'",
 ]
 
 [[project.authors]]
@@ -50,9 +50,9 @@ developer = [
     "tomli; python_version < '3.11'",
 ]
 doc = [
-    'numpy>=1.22',
-    'matplotlib>=3.5',
-    'pydata-sphinx-theme>=0.13.3',
+    'numpy>=1.26',
+    'matplotlib>=3.8',
+    'pydata-sphinx-theme>=0.16.1',
     'sphinx>=7',
     'intersphinx_registry',
 ]
diff --git a/requirements/default.txt b/requirements/default.txt
index 5a1986a1..4bd17e9d 100644
--- a/requirements/default.txt
+++ b/requirements/default.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # Generated via tools/generate_requirements.py and pre-commit hook.
 # Do not edit this file; modify pyproject.toml instead.
-sphinx>=6
+sphinx>=7
 tabulate>=0.8.10
-tomli>=1.1.0;python_version<'3.11'
+tomli>=2.1.0;python_version<'3.11'
diff --git a/requirements/doc.txt b/requirements/doc.txt
index 950966b6..805bdfeb 100644
--- a/requirements/doc.txt
+++ b/requirements/doc.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # Generated via tools/generate_requirements.py and pre-commit hook.
 # Do not edit this file; modify pyproject.toml instead.
-numpy>=1.22
-matplotlib>=3.5
-pydata-sphinx-theme>=0.13.3
+numpy>=1.26
+matplotlib>=3.8
+pydata-sphinx-theme>=0.16.1
 sphinx>=7
 intersphinx_registry