Converting oil shale into liquid fuels is a solution to the shortage of crude oil in China. However, the competitiveness of oil shale-to-liquid (STL) fuel conversion are affected by fluctuations in the price of crude oil. Thus, a comprehensive comparison between STL and oil refining processes is urgently needed. Technical, economic, and environmental analyses of STL process were conducted in this study to compare its competitiveness and prospects with those of oil refining process. The results show that the energy efficiency of STL process is 28%, which is much lower than that of oil refining process (92%). When the price of crude oil is less than 66 $/bbl, STL process is not cost-competitive relative to oil refining process. Moreover, the CO2-equivalent emissions per GJ of fuel from an STL process exceed those of oil refining process by 71.2 kg. To increase the technoeconomic and environmental performance of STL process, two development Scenarios are proposed in this study. In Scenario 1, the solid heat carrier technology is integrated with the STL process to utilize smaller oil shale particles. In the Scenario 2, steam reforming for hydrogen technology is integrated with the STL process proposed in Scenario 1 to effectively utilize retorting gas for hydrogen production. Results show that the energy efficiencies of Scenarios 1 and 2 increase to 40% and 52%, respectively. The economic performances of Scenarios 1 and 2 are each superior to that of oil refining process when the price of crude oil is higher than 62 $/bbl and 53 $/bbl, respectively. The CO2 emissions of Scenarios 1 and 2 are reduced by 45% and 38% respectively, relative to STL process. Therefore, an STL process integrated with solid-heat-carrier and steam reforming for hydrogen production technologies is more promising and applicable to the oil shale utilization industry in China. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd