Abstract: Formalism is one of the prominent problems existing in the field of public service in China at present, among which institutional formalism is an important but often neglected type of formalism. Institutional formalism is based on or through institutional formalism. The existing forms in practice include the establishment of institutions that emphasize quantity over quality, the establishment of institutions that have substantive contents but lack procedural guarantee, the design of cumbersome and inversions of procedural responsibility institutions, and the unbalanced institutional operation that emphasize setting up over implementation. In addition to the harm of general formalism, institutional formalism also has multiple negative consequences, such as reducing the quality of institutions, reducing the credibility of institutions, increasing the difficulty of identifying and governing formalism, and weakening the foundation of national governance effectiveness. In this regard, we can take measures to improve the system by cultivating the correct system view of the party and government organs and public officials, strengthening the public participation in the establishment of the system, actively carrying out the evaluation of the system after the event and strengthening the accountability investigation of the institutional-type formalism.