Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2010 to 2019, empirically examined the impact of inter-regional industrial transfer on the optimization and upgrading of industrial structure from the two dimensions of industrial structure rationalization and industrial structure upgrading. The research shows that industrial transfer has a significant effect on the rationalization of industrial structure, but it has a certain inhibitory effect on the advanced industrial structure. The mechanism inspection and analysis show that industrial transfer promotes the rationalization of industrial structure through the improvement of factor allocation efficiency and technological progress, while the low-end locking brought by industrial transfer will inhibit the high-level industrial structure. The regional heterogeneity analysis shows that in the eastern region, industrial transfer has no significant effect on the rationalization of industrial structure, and has a certain inhibitory effect on the advanced industrial structure. In the central and western regions, industrial transfer has a significant role in promoting the upgrading of industrial structure. As far as the rationalization of industrial structure is concerned, industrial transfer has a significant effect on the rationalization of industrial structure in the central region and a certain inhibition on the rationalization of industrial structure in the western region.