•The improved PAR and Pn of maize ear leaves potentially increased the crop RUE of strip intercropped maize.•The improved PAR at soybean canopy top increased Pn, intercepted PAR, and partial LER of strip intercropped soybean.•The interspecific competition of system intercepted PAR adjusted the yield of intercrops and LER.•The LER of 1.42 was achieved in SI2 which was the leading level of the world. Maize (Zea mays)-soybean (Glycine max) intercropping is popular in many developing countries because of its high land equivalent ratio (LER). However, very few studies have explored the reason of its high LER, and the relationships between light distribution and the variations in radiation use efficiency (RUE) and LER in different intercropping arrangements. In this study, we conducted field experiments with different row arrangements of intercropping patterns from 2013 to 2015. The three different strip intercropping (SI) row arrangements were 0.2 m, 0.4 m, and 0.7 m (SI1); 0.4 m, 0.4 m, and 0.6 m (SI2); and 0.6 m, 0.4 m, and 0.5 m (SI3) for maize row distance, soybean row distance, distance between maize and soybean rows, respectively. The results showed that, as compared to single row intercropping, the strip intercropping increased the PAR at top of soybean canopy by 1.42 (SI3), 1.67 (SI2) and 1.93 (SI1) times, and increased the PAR at maize leaves close to the ear by 1.02 (SI3), 1.11 (SI2) and 1.12 (SI1) times. Moreover, the increased PAR at crucial positions in SI potentially improved the photosynthetic rate (Pn) for maize leaves close to the ear and radiation use efficiency (RUE) of maize by 1.08 and 1.09 times (averaged by SI1, SI2 and SI3), respectively, and improved the Pn of leaves at top of canopy and intercepted PAR of soybean by 1.75 and 1.36 times (averaged by SI1, SI2 and SI3), respectively. Compared to monoculture, SI also enhanced the RUE of intercropped maize (by 1.18 times) and soybean (by 1.51 times), which compensated for the partial yield loss caused by decreased crop intercepted PAR. Overall, in SI, intercropped maize achieved 90% of the monoculture yield, and intercropped soybean achieved 47% of the monoculture yield. With the expanding gap width for growing soybeans under a fixed bandwidth (2 m), the increasing intercepted PAR of intercropped soybean alleviated the interspecific competition disadvantage of soybean, while the reduction of maize row width decreased the dominant interspecific competition of maize. By adjusting the distances, we suggest that the optimal gap width for growing soybeans is 1.6 m-1.8 m, and the best maize row distance is 0.4 m. The SI2 achieved LER of 1.42, representing the leading level in the world.