[Objective] The temporal and spatial evolution characteristics of net primary productivity (NPP) of the terrestrial vegetation ecosystem in the Yangtze River basin were studied to provide a reference for government departments to establish and adjust ecological function restoration projects. [Methods] The Zhou Guangsheng-Zhang Xinshi model (ZGS) and the Thornthwaite Memorial model were used to estimate NPP in the Yangtze River basin based on precipitation and temperature data from 2000 to 2019. Furthermore, Pearson correlation coefficient, linear regression analysis, and the Mann-Kendall trend test were applied to analyze the spatiotemporal variation of vegetation NPP of terrestrial ecosystems in the Yangtze River basin. [Results] ① The spatial and temporal variation of NPP derived from the above two models were basically homogeneous in the Yangtze River basin. Actual NPP and potential NPP were positively correlated (0.982). ② Both actual NPP and potential NPP in the Yangtze River basin increased over time at a rate of 6.85 g/(m²·yr) and 2.74 g/(m²·yr), respectively, from 2000 to 2019. ③ Actual NPP and potential NPP were higher in the southeast and lower in the northwest portions of the Yangtze River basin. The low values were mainly distributed in grassland ecosystems, and the high values were mostly distributed in forest ecosystems and farmland ecosystems. ④ The areas with increasing trends for actual NPP accounted for 80.64% of the total area, and 84.79% of the total area for potential NPP in the Yangtze River basin, mainly distributed in Yunnan, Qinghai, Tibet, the north of Sichuan, and most regions of Zhejiang and Shanghai. The areas with decreasing trends actual NPP accounted for 19.36% of the total area and 15.19% of the total area for potential NPP in the Yangtze River basin, mainly distributed in He’nan and Hubei Province. [Conclusion] The NPP of vegetation ecosystems in the Yangtze River basin has increased in the past 20 years, indicating that natural resource management and environmental protection policy implementation in the Yangtze River basin has produced remarkable positive effects on regional ecosystem protection and development.