OBJECTIVES: Cervical cancer is a preventable cancer, yet it remains as one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers among women in Mainland China. Although free cervical screening has been provided in some rural areas in China, the screening rate remains low. This study aimed to investigate the relative importance of a number of key factors that influenced women in their decision to seek cervical screening in rural China. METHODS: A discrete choice experiment (DCE) was administered in four counties in Shandong Province. Six attributes (effectiveness, screening interval, screening location, pain and comorbidities, waiting time for screening results, and out-of-pocket cost of screening tests) were chosen based on a literature review and a qualitative study. A sequential orthogonal factorial design was used to generate a pragmatic 27 binary choice sets (which further divided into 3 blocks). A conditional logit model was used to analyze the DCE data and to evaluate the relative importance of each attribute. RESULTS: A total of 405 women participated in the survey, with a mean (standard deviation, SD) age of 49 (8) years old. The vast majority of participants were married (96%), less than 9% participants received high school or above education, and 51% of participants had annual household income less than 20,000 Yuan (around US$ 3,000). Regression results suggest that all six attributes were statistical significant. The most preferred scenario is to participate in a free annual cervical screening program located within the village, which can reduce by 80% the chance of dying from cervical cancer, without pain or comorbidities, and the screening result will be available within 2 weeks. CONCLUSIONS: This study identified relative preferences for cervical screening among women in rural China. The findings from this study may help policy makers to design a preferred screening program that lead to an increased screening rate.