China is a broad expansive country with a wide variety of ecological conditions. The quality and characteristics of tobacco leaves vary remarkably under different ecological conditions, which may be correlated to differing light quality. We studied the effects of light quality on photosynthetic characteristics and on the carotenoid and cuticular extract content in tobacco leaves by using flue-cured Yunyan 87 tobacco as the test material. We used colored films of similar transmittance with the tobacco plants to conduct shadings treatment on the bird-nest stage and at the topping period until the end of growth. It is important to understand the mechanisms affecting different quality characteristics of flue-cured tobacco in different tobacco-growing areas. Results showed the order of the overall photosynthetic performance under different wavelengths of light was red > natural > white > blue > yellow during the earlier stage of tobacco growth. The effects of blue light became more obviously important during the latter stage of growth. The β-carotene and lutein content of cured tobacco leaves was highly positively correlated, though β-carotene content was significantly higher than lutein. An increase in red light during the bird-nest stage and supplemental blue light during the topping period improved the β-carotene and lutein content of cured tobacco leaves. Light quality has the strongest significant effect on β-cembratriene-diol content, and minimal impact on the norsolandione content. During the bird-nest stage, the effect of light quality modified by colored film on β-cembratriene-diol content was three times higher than the effect of light quality on norsolanadione content. Light quality had notable effects on hentriacontane, tritriacontane and isopropyl tritriacontane content, while isopropyl dotriacontane and nonacosane content were less affected by light quality. Compared with trichome secretions and alkane waxiness content, the light quality had a smaller effect on neophytadiene. During the bird-nest stage, shading with a red or blue film had the highest impact on the total amount of cuticular extractions produced on the surface of tobacco leaves; yellow film produced a lower impact, and white film had the least impact. During the topping period, shading with yellow film resulted in the highest production in total cuticular extractions produced on tobacco leaf surfaces; white film resulted in lower production and red film resulted in minimal production. The effect of light quality modified by shading during the topping period on the total amount of cuticular extractions produced from tobacco leaf surfaces was about three times stronger than the effect of shading during the bird-nest stage. But the changes in the various tobacco leaf cuticular extractions produced from plants grown under different light qualities were not fully in line with this trend. The total amount of trichome secretions and its degraded substances in cured tobacco leaves was the highest in plants grown under yellow film, but there were many variations for the influence of light quality on neophytadiene content and on alkane waxiness content. The effect of the shading time of red and blue film on the tobacco leaf cuticular extractions was significant, while the shading time of yellow and white film had little effect. The influence of red and blue light on the tobacco leaf cuticular extractions was stronger during the earlier stages of growth, while the influence of yellow and white light was stronger at later growing periods. Increasing the proportion of red light on the tobacco during the earlier growing stage enhanced the accumulation of neophytadiene and alkane waxiness in cured tobacco leaves, while supplementing yellow light during later growing periods improved the content of trichome secretions and the total amount of cuticular extractions in cured tobacco leaves.