By studying the land use change in the ecological barrier area of the Three Gorges Reservoir dam area in the past 25 years, the temporal and spatial variation characteristics and driving mechanisms were revealed, which could provide a scientific basis for the rational development and utilization of land resources and local ecosystem management. The Landsat remote sensing images of 1993, 2006 and 2018 were processed using RS and GIS techniques to obtain the distribution map of land use types. Combining the spatial analysis tools of geographic information system and the analysis method of transfer characteristics, this study analyzed the land use change in the ecological barrier zone of the Three Gorges Reservoir dam area from 1993 to 2018. The results showed that since 1993, the land use structure of the ecological barrier zone in the dam area of the Three Gorges Reservoir has changed significantly, showing an increase in forest land, garden plot and water area, and a significant reduction in cultivated land. The increase in water area was as high as 183.0%, while the reduction in cultivated land area was 68.9%. The transfer characteristics of land use indicated that the increase of both water area and garden plot were mainly from cultivated land and forest land. The increase of forest land and construction land were mainly from the conversion of cultivated land, and unutilized land was transformed into different types of land use. The water area in the ecological barrier zone of the Three Gorges Reservoir dam area from 1993 to 2006 was much larger than that in 2006-2018, while the other types of land use change were similar. In general, the construction of the Three Gorges Project, the development of urbanization, the structural adjustment of agriculture and forestry industry and ecological protection were the main reasons for the land use changes in the ecological barrier zone of the Three Gorges Reservoir dam area.