Green development is the inherent requirement and important support of comprehensive rural revitalization in China. This study constructs a rural green development index system drawing on the framework of “green growth–green wealth–green welfare” and elaborates the temporal-spatial evolution and driving mechanism of rural green development in 30 provinces in China based on the entropy method, spatial autocorrelation analysis and Geodetector. The results indicate that the rural green development index (RGDI) showed an upward trend from 2004 to 2019, with an average annual growth rate of 7%. Nevertheless, the overall level of rural green development is relatively low. The RGDI presented the spatial differentiation characteristic of high in the eastern region and low in the central and western regions. In particular, the urbanization level, economic scale, industrial structure, and public facility investment are the primary factors driving rural green development. The research proposes relevant policy recommendations from the perspectives of four major regions to improve the rural green development level in China, including green agricultural production, ecological protection, public services and infrastructure investment, and industrial integration.