As the economic core of Sichuan Province and an ecological protection barrier in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, the Tuojiang River Basin faces a critical issue: how to scientifically coordinate the coupling relationship between urbanization and ecological environmental protection to promote sustainable socio-economic-ecological development in the basin. Economic globalization has promoted the interregional flow of resources, strengthening the telecoupled interactions between urbanization and the ecological environment. However, traditional studies on coupling relationships have only considered local coupling, neglecting telecoupling. This study developed an Improved Compounded Nighttime Light Index (MCNLI) to measure urbanization and an Improved Remote Sensing Ecological Index (MRSEI) to evaluate ecological environment quality, based on Landsat imagery, nighttime light data, and land use data. Additionally, a Local coupling and Telecoupling Coordination Degree (LTCCD) model was adopted to conduct a quantitative study on the coupling relationship between urbanization and ecological environment quality during 2000-2020.The results showed that: (1) The MCNLI model objectively and scientifically evaluated the level of urbanization in the basin. Urbanization in the Tuojiang River Basin showed a growing trend, with an average annual growth rate of 0.00874/a, forming a spatial distribution pattern with Chengdu City as the core, areas such as Mianyang City and Jianyang City as the intermediate circle, and the remaining areas as the peripheral circle. (2) The overall MRSEI value exhibited a fluctuating downward trend, with an average annual rate of -0.0088/a. The decline became more pronounced after 2010, accompanied by a significant disparity in ecological environment quality among cities. Spatially, the ecological environment quality presented an urban-hilly-mountainous spatial gradient distribution pattern of "poor quality in main urban areas, general quality in hilly areas, and good quality in mountainous areas". (3) The constructed LTCCD model can scientifically and reasonably reflected the interactive coupling effect between urbanization and ecological environment quality. The LTCCD value showed a growing trend, with an average annual growth rate of 0.00925/a, and the number of cities with basic and highly coordinated grades has increased, spatially distributed in Chengdu City and its surrounding areas. The coupling relationship between urbanization and ecological environment quality in the basin had gone through a developmental process from uncoordinated to coordinated, and the degree of coupling coordination has gradually improved. These findings enriched the theoretical understanding of the coupling between urbanization and ecological environment quality and provided a scientific basis for promoting coordinated development of urbanization and ecological protection in the basin.