Abstract: Promoting the synergistic development of agricultural water use efficiency, agricultural economic development and agricultural ecological environment is an inevitable choice to realize the high-quality development of agriculture in the Yellow River Basin. Based on the provincial panel data of 9 provinces（and regions） along the Yellow River Basin from 2005 to 2020, a comprehensive development evaluation index system of agricultural water use efficiency—agricultural economic development—agricultural ecological environment（WEE） was established in this paper. Additionally, the coupling coordination model was adopted to measure the coupling coordination development level of the WEE composite system, and the obstacle degree model was further applied to identify the obstacle factors. The results showed that:（1）The agricultural water use efficiency, agricultural economic development and agricultural ecological environment subsystems showed upward trends with different degrees of fluctuation from 2005 to 2020.（2） The WEE composite system in the Yellow River Basin was in a highly coupled state, with the degree of coordination progressing from barely coordination to primary coordination and showing a spatial pattern of “high in the west and low in the east”. Moreover, the provinces（and regions） with lagging agricultural ecological environment were the most and the provinces（and regions） with lagging agricultural water use efficiency were the least.（3） The main obstacle factors corresponding to each subsystem were the strongest in blocking the agricultural water use efficiency subsystem while the weakest in blocking the agricultural economic development subsystem. Boosting the transformation and upgrading of traditional agriculture to modernized agriculture, breaking down provincial and regional barriers to promote the free flow of agricultural resource elements, and formulating relevant policies in accordance with local conditions are crucial measures to strengthen the synergistic development of agricultural water use efficiency, agricultural economic development and agricultural ecological environment in the Yellow River Basin and the provinces（and regions）.