Abstract: The Yellow River Basin (YRB) plays a key role in China's social and economic development and the construction of ecological security patterns. The high-quality development of this basin has become a major national strategy. The basin also faces several ecological problems such as ecosystem degradation, soil erosion, and wetland shrinkage. In order to understand the ecological quality of YRB and its temporal and spatial variation characteristics, the authors analyzed the data and literature on the ecological pattern, vegetation, biodiversity, ecosystem functions and services, and county ecological quality of YRB. The results showed that: (1) The ecological quality of most of the counties in YRB was medium, the vegetation coverage decreased from southeast to northwest, and the ecosystem service value of the upper reaches was greater than that of the middle and lower reaches. (2) From 2000 to 2018, the proportion of farmland ecosystem area continued to decline, the proportion of forest and water area slightly increased, and the settlement continued to rise. The overall vegetation coverage and productivity situation has been improved since the 1980s, as well as the ecosystem service value of the important ecological function area. (3) There was a limited improvement in the fragile ecosystem in most of the basin, some parts degraded unabatedly, and the biodiversity of the basin was still threatened seriously and unceasingly. Therefore, it is recommended to carry out research on the basis of vegetation restoration to improve the ecological structure and maintain the ecological process, focus on the evaluation and improvement of ecological protection effectiveness in ecologically sensitive areas, the impact of farmland productivity on natural ecology in agricultural areas, and the impact of urbanization on ecological services and ecological security. At the same time, a comprehensive monitoring system for ecological quality in the Yellow River Basin should be established. The mechanism and application of monitoring indicators and technical methods are not only the basis of spatial-temporal analysis of watershed ecological quality, but also the support of ecological protection, restoration and management.