The Chinese government is constantly pursuing a green transformation of its industry under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). At the same time, the booming digital economy has brought new opportunities and challenges to the Chinese government, and it is relevant to discuss the contribution of the digital economy to China’s green development. In this study, we use panel data for 247 cities in China from 2011-2019. The impact of the digital economy on green total factor productivity is examined, and the mechanism of green technological innovation in this process is verified. It has been found that the digital economy can promote GTFP and that green technological innovation has a positive moderating role in this process. We also verify the threshold effect of green technological innovation, and the role of the digital economy can be inflated when green technological innovation reaches the corresponding threshold. Of course, these findings pass a series of robustness tests, and they are plausible. Accordingly, we put forward some policy recommendations to mitigate the possible problems in reality in order to promote green production in China.