To explore the evolution characteristics and driving factors of agricultural water footprint in the Sichuan Basin, the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of blue water, green water, grey water, and white water footprint of major crops in the Sichuan Basin from 2001 to 2021 were analyzed. The LMDI model was used to identify the driving factors of crop water footprint change from the technical, environmental and social dimensions, and the differences of each driving factor were discussed from the global and local perspectives. The results showed that the crop water footprint in Sichuan Basin increased first and then decreased from 2001 to 2021. The spatial distribution characteristics of crop water footprint in each city were high in the north and low in the south. From the global perspective, the impact of different driving factors on changes in crop water footprint varies from large to small as follows:economic effect, population change effect, technological effect, water footprint intensity effect, water-saving effect, and production effect. The economic effect and population change effect were the strongest promoting and inhibiting factors, and the contribution values were 82.90×10⁸ m³ and -51.55×10⁸ m³, respectively. From the local perspective, there was a dislocation between the technical effect and the population change effect in space, and the production effect, water saving effect and water footprint intensity effect show a two-way driving effect in space.