Daily data were obtained from 37 meteorological stations in Liaoning province and 5 meteorological stations in an adjacent area, combined with MODIS NDVI data, during 2000-2010. Vegetation growth response to climate change was analyzed by trend, correlation and spatial analyses to investigate the leading influence of different climate factors on vegetation growth. During the study period, the vegetation of Liaoning province was the most vigorous in July and August. NDVI was significantly increased in the vegetative season and remained between 0.73 and 0.74 after 2007. NDVI and temperature were negatively correlated, especially from June to August; NDVI and precipitation and sunshine hours mainly showed a positive correlation. Vegetation growth was most sensitive to changes of temperature, and the response to sunshine hours was the slowest. The main influencing climatic factors were temperature and sunshine hours in May in the eastern part of Liaoning province but changed to precipitation in the western region. During June to August, the main climatic factors were precipitation and sunshine hours but in September, changed to temperature and sunshine hours. The lag time of temperature and sunshine hours to vegetation was extended from the northeast to southwest Liaoning province, and that for precipitation was opposite.