Developing agricultural production services is a crucial way to promote the green transformation of Chinese agriculture. Investigating the environmental effects of agricultural production services is imperative for ensuring the sustainability of agriculture. This study takes the reduced application of chemical fertilizer in China as an example. Based on data from 992 rice farmers in the China Land Economic Survey, we explored the impact of agricultural production services on chemical fertilizer use. An extended regression model addresses the potential endogeneity and selectivity bias. The results show that introducing agricultural production services can significantly reduce the intensity of chemical fertilizer use and improve its efficiency. The effects of economies of scale and off-farm income play a large part in it. In addition, compared with labor-intensive agricultural production services, technologyintensive agricultural production services have a more significant impact on reducing chemical fertilizer use. This study highlights the positive role of agricultural production services in promoting sustainable agricultural development, as they help promote large-scale and specialized agricultural production.