The positive impact of straw incorporation (S₁) on mitigating global warming potential due to increase soil organic carbon sequestration can be offset by the straw-induced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Therefore, this study advocated an optimal straw-based system, i.e. straw incorporation plus half plastic film mulch (SP), to mitigate the straw-induced GHG emissions in northwest China. A two-year field experiment was conducted to investigate effects of no straw inputs (S₀), S₁ and SP on yields, GHG emissions and soil labile carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) pools, and identify the relationship between GHG emissions and soil labile C and N pools. Results showed that SP significantly enhanced maize yield by 14.5 and 7.0% in 2018 and 2019, respectively, as compared to S₀, mainly due to the increased soil inorganic nitrogen (SIN) and dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) contents. In addition, SP considerably mitigated the straw-induced CO₂ emission by 77.8 and 67.1% in 2018 and 2019, respectively, mainly attributed to the reduced dissolved organic carbon (DOC)/DON, microbial biomass carbon (MBC)/SIN and DOC/SIN. Moreover, SP significantly lessened the straw-induced N₂O emission by 43.6 and 59.5% in 2018 and 2019, respectively, due to significant decreased DOC content during seeding to jointing, the major N₂O emission period. Our results indicated that SP, as a kind of straw-based system, enhanced the sustainability of summer maize ecosystem because of mitigating the straw-induced GHG emissions and simultaneously enhancing maize yield.