To ensure a sustainable development of economy, a new path to economic development appropriate for resource-based cities needs to be developed under economic transformation. This paper studies its features and necessities of economic transformation of resource-based cities, and discusses the economic development path of resource-based cities under economic transformation based on reconstruction of economic development path from economic structure transformation, social regional structure transformation, resource allocation transformation and ecological transformation, and presents approaches to transformation upgrading and path reconstruction, offering references for sound and sustainable economy of Chinese resource-based cities under economic transformation.