Objective To investigate the level and influencing factors of subjective well-being of nurses and establish a model of the relationship of job stress, self-efficacy and subjective well-being. Methods Totally 438 nurses from 5 hospitals in Changchun city were investigated with the self-designed demographic questionnaire, General Well-Being Scale, Nurse Job Stressors Scale and Self-Efficacy Scale. Results The total score of subjective well-being was (71.36±18.83) points. Single factor analysis found that age (F=1.759, P<0.01), department (F=1.712, P<0.01), professional title (F=1.364, P<0.05), years of working (F=1.420, P<0.05) and monthly income (F=1.632, P<0.01) were statistically significant. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that sex (t=-2.447, P<0.05), the first factor of job stress (t=-5.033, P<0.01), the second factor (t=-2.478, P<0.05), the third factor (t=-2.315, P<0.05), the fifth factor (t=-5.862, P<0.01) and self-efficacy (t=10.705, P<0.01) were the predictive effectton of subjective well-being. The result of path analysis shows that self-efficacy has a significant effect of adjustment on job stress and subjective well-being (direct effects=-0.62, indirect effects=-0.24, P<0.01). Conclusions The nurse subjective well-being is in the medium level. Hospitals and all related departments should take effective measures to reduce or eliminate unfavorable factors and increase the protective factors, and then improve the level of nurses' subjective well-being and nursing quality. Key words: Nurses; Subjective well-being; Job stress; Self-efficacy