Industrial wastewater (IW) discharge, which is a known point source of pollution, is a major water pollution source. Increasing IW discharge has imposed considerable pressure on regional or global water environments. It is important to estimate the IW distribution in grid units to improve basin-scale hydrological processes and water quality modeling. For the first time, we use the nighttime light imagery produced by the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program's Operational Linescan System (DMSP/OLS) to estimate the spatial and temporal variations in the IW distribution from 1992 to 2010 in China. The digital number values per unit area (DNP) of each stable light image were calculated using nighttime light imagery and were regressed against the IW per unit area (IWP) to estimate the total industrial wastewater (TIW) for each province. The results indicated strong positive correlations between the DNP and the IWP for each province during different years. The fitted linear regression models were used to estimate IW discharge in China with reliable accuracy. The IW estimation using the satellite data was consistent with the statistical results. The results also revealed that the IW discharge coverage expanded, whereas the IW discharge intensity decreased from 1992 to 2010 in China.