Objective: To explore the chain mediating effect of regulatory emotional self efficacy and positive psychological capital on resilience and the mental health of college students. Methods: A total of 809 college students of Chaohu University were selected and were administered with the the Self report Symptom Invertory, Symptom Checklist,90 (SCL-90), Connor Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), Regulatory Emotional Self efficacy Scale (RES-C) and Positive Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PPQ). Multiple linear regression analysis was performed, taking resilience, regulatory emotional self efficacy and positive psychological capital as independent variables and the mental health of college students as dependent variables, meanwhile test the intermediary effect. Results: Differences were found in resilience(3.52±0.55,3.27±0.42), regulatory emotional self efficacy(3.58± 0.59 ，3.32±0.57), positive psychological capital(4.74±0.77，4.49±0.76) and mental health(158.66±33.01，176.53±34.73) among college students with different sources(urban and rural)( t =55.82，39.22，21.28，-54.14， P <0.05). Resilience, regulatory emotional self efficacy and positive psychological capital were significantly associated with the severity of mental health of college students( R 2= 0.21, P <0.01). Regulatory emotional self efficacy and positive psychological capital played a significant chain mediating role between resilience and poor mental health( effect =-0.03, P <0.05), and the mediating effect accounted for 39.3% of the total effect. Conclusion The mental health of college students can be improved by strengthening levels of resilience and enhancing regulatory emotional self efficacy, and constructing positive psychological capital could contribute to the association between resilience and mental health.