Abstract: The solar radiation has undergone a series of changes with the urbanization of Shanghai.This study attempts to determine the effects of urbanization on solar radiation features in Shanghai. According to the solar radiation data during the period 1991-2012 and the data of Shanghai statistical yearbooks, the annual variations of surface solar radiation were analyzed.The relations between comprehensive index of urbanization and the solar radiation were investigatedby correlation analysis. The effects of each urbanization factor on the solar radiation featureswere investigated by grey correlation analysis and GM(1, N) model. During the period 1991-2012, diffuse radiation increased, the tendency rate was 120.2 MJ·m^-2/10 a; direct radiationdecreased, the tendency rate was -119.8 MJ·m^-2/10 a; and total solar radiation decreasedslightly. The comprehensive index of Shanghai urbanization was positively correlated with thediffuse radiation and negatively correlated with the direct radiation; however, there was no significantcorrelation between the comprehensive index of Shanghai urbanization and total solarradiation. The upper most factor on both diffuse solar radiation and direct solar radiation was population density, while the other important factors were industrial energy consumption andresidential building area. For diffuse radiation and direct radiation, the fitted values of GM(1, N) agree quite closely with actual values. This indicates that GM(1, N) model has great advantages for multifactor correlative system prediction.