Abstract: Promoting industrial ecological and green development is not only the fundamental requirement of sustainable development, but also the key to achieve high-quality economic development. Based on the data of 108 cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2006 to 2018, the undesirable SBM model was used to measure the industrial ecological efficiency, and the spatial and temporal characteristics and influence mechanism of regional industrial ecological efficiency were investigated by using the kernel density analysis method and Tobit model. The results show that: (1) During the study period, the industrial eco-efficiency of the Yangtze River Economic Zone decreased first and then increased. The efficiency value showed a downward trend from 2006 to 2010, and an upward trend from 2010 to 2018. The efficiency value of the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration was higher than that of the Chengdu-Chongqing urban agglomeration and higher than that of the long-term and middle-reach urban agglomeration. (2) The industrial ecological efficiency in the study area has obvious spatial characteristics. The Yangtze River Delta is a typical high-efficiency region, while the low-efficiency region has realized the transfer from the upstream to the middle reaches and formed the spatial distribution pattern of “high at both ends and low in the middle”.(3) Economic development level, industrial structure, environmental regulation and development level of science and technology have a great role on growth of industrial ecological efficiency, industrial agglomeration significantly inhibition efficiency of industrial ecology, foreign direct investment to the Yangtze river delta urban agglomeration only has a significant role in promoting industrial ecological efficiency, does not have a significant impact on the whole, and other areas.