Global warming has contributed to extreme climate events that have had a significant impact on vege-tation. However, the spatio-temporal changes in extreme climate and its influence on vegetation remain unclear in the Qinling-Daba Mountains (QBMs). Based on satellite-derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and meteorological datasets, we analyzed the spatio-temporal variations of the NDVI and its response to 19 extreme climate indices in the QBMs. Geographic detector was used to identify the contribution rate of extreme climate indices and their influence on the NDVI. The results indicated that the NDVI significantly increased in the majority of the QBMs (80.34%) and decreased in only a few regions (1.09%) from 2000 to 2020. Noticeable warming was observed in the QBMs from 1960 to 2020, with the temperature increasing more at night than during the day, and regions with a larger change in the extreme temperature events were mostly found in the Western Qinling Mountains (WQMs). During the study period, extreme precipitation events showed weak changes, extreme precipitation intensity increased in the southwestern QBMs, while in the eastern QBMs, extreme precipitation intensity decreased but extreme precipitation frequency increased. Additionally, significant spatial variations were observed in the NDVI reaction to extreme climate indices in the QBMs. The correlations between extreme precipitation indices and the NDVI were higher than those between extreme temperature indices in the WQMs, whereas inverse relationship were observed in the Qinling Mountains (QMs) and Daba Mountains (BMs). We also found that the influence of extreme climate indices on NDVI was not independent, and the interaction between the extreme climate indices amplified the influence of a single index on NDVI in both double-factor or nonlinear ways. The paper can establish scientific evidence for the protection and restoration of vegetation in the QBMs in response to global climate change.