This paper analyzes the internal mechanism of services trade promoting manufacturing efficiency. Empirical investigation is conducted with a sub-sectors panel data from 2001 to 2012, and the results confirm that, firstly, services trade import from EU promotes the efficiency of China’s manufacturing sectors in general. Secondly, from the viewpoint of the subentry of the import of services trade, the import of transportation services has the greatest impact on the efficiency of China’s manufacturing sectors, followed by financial services, special and technology services, insurance services, royalties and license fees, communication services, computer and information services and operation leasing. Thirdly, from the viewpoint of the subentry with different characteristic factor intensity, services trade import from EU has the greatest impact on the capital-intensive sectors, followed by the technology-intensive sectors, and the labor-intensive sectors.