In the case of considering security and stability of regenerative braking, a parallel regenerative braking control strategy was proposed with the objective of maximizing the energy recovery. Then according to the efficiency characteristics of battery, motor and continuous variable transmission which acquired from experiment, an optimization procedure was implemented to optimize motor and CVT’s best control strategy during regenerative braking with the principle of optimal powertrain efficiency, and the vehicle simulation model was established and simulation analysis was carried out under NEDC driving cycles. The simulation result indicates that, compared with traditional optimal motor efficiency control strategy, the proposed strategy enables to take full advantage of power parts’ efficiency characteristics and further improve the recover rate of regenerative braking energy.