Abstract: In this paper, the author explains differences between formal and informal environmental regulation, and on this basis analyzes the mechanism of the environmental regulation affecting inter-regional industry transfer. Then the author does empirical research on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2003 to 2012, also studies the threshold characteristics and spatial heterogeneity of impacts by using threshold regression model. The investigation proves that formal environmental regulation has a significant impact on the inter-regional transfer of pollution-intensive industries, and that with the intensity of formal environmental regulation rising, it will inhibit at the beginning and then accelerate, which verifies the threshold characteristic and spatial heterogeneity. while the informal environmental regulation boosts the inter-regional transfer on the whole, showing its economic effects.