Ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin is a major development strategy in China. Using panel data of 29 cities from 2007 to 2017, Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) test is conducted on the relationship between ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin. The results show that the EKC of centralized treatment rate of the sewage treatment plant and the harmless treatment rate of domestic waste presents an ″N″ type, the EKC of general utilization rate of general industrial solid waste presents an ″inverted U″ type, and the EKC of industrial waste water discharge and industrial SO₂ emissions show an ″inverted N″ shape. The inflection point of GDP per capita for ecological protection in the Yellow River Basin was between 118,000 and 144,000 yuan per capita. As of 2017, no city has crossed the first inflection point, indicating that the ecological protection situation and high-quality economic development of the region need to be improved. Government departments should continue to increase ecological protection to prevent the occurrence of pollutants emissions and economic growth together; at the same time, they should promote population agglomeration and develop service industries to curb ecological pollution emissions and increase pollution treatment rate.