Abstract: The ecological environment governance of the Yellow River Basin in China is complex and long-term. Accelerating the construction of a modern environmental governance system and improving the performance of environmental governance are the key links to achieving high-quality development of the ecological environment in the Yellow River Basin. The Super-SBM model based on non-expected output was used to measure the provincial environmental governance performance of the Yellow River Basin from 2005 to 2021. The spatial and temporal differences and dynamic evolution characteristics of the environmental governance performance of the Yellow River Basin were revealed using Malmquist index, Dagum Gini coefficient, and standard deviation ellipse analysis, and the influencing factors of the environmental governance performance of the basin were explored using Tobit model. The results showed that: (1)Statically, the average value of comprehensive environmental governance performance in the Yellow River Basin was 0.549, indicating an overall lower-efficiency stage of development. Pure technical and comprehensive efficiency changed synergistically, and the lower level of pure technical efficiency was the main reason for the inefficiency. The differences in the environmental governance performance of the provinces (autonomous regions) along the Yellow River were significant and mainly dominated by the lower efficiency value. (2) Dynamically, the technology level had risen by an average of 8.25 per cent per year. The level of technology was the main cause of changes in all elements of environmental governance in the Yellow River Basin, and promoting the improvement of the level of technology was still the main way to promote the progress of environmental governance efficiency in the Yellow River Basin. (3)In terms of spatial evolution, the total Gini coefficient of environmental governance performance in the Yellow River Basin was high, with a mean value of 0.322, and the inter-group variation was the main source of disparity in the whole region. The environmental governance performance of the Yellow River Basin was shrinking in the direction of "northeast-southwest", and the center of gravity was always located in the upstream area. (4)The intensity of environmental regulation and the level of economic development positively affected the environmental governance performance at the significance levels of 0.05 and 0.1, respectively. The level of technological innovation and industrial structure inhibited the environmental governance performance of the Yellow River Basin, while the level of urbanization and the degree of openness to the outside world did not have a significant effect. In the new stage of development, it was necessary to study in depth the environmental governance performance of the Yellow River Basin in terms of the strength of scientific and technological innovation inputs, pollution management, industrial structure upgrading, ecosystem protection and restoration, coordination and cooperation, etc.