[Aim]  To clarify the effects of different pollination methods on pollination, pollen tube germination, fruit setting, and fruit quality indices, of tomatoes grown in solar greenhouses. [Methods]  Using the strawberry-shaped "Jiuyixiang" tomato variety grown in solar greenhouses as the experimental crop, this study evaluated the effects of four different of pollination methods on pollination, pollen tube germination, fruit setting rate, and fruit quality indices. [Results]  The fluorescent, brightness of the stigma, and the number of pollen tubes at 9, 24, and 48 h after pollination, could be ranked as follows: Bombus terrestris pollination > vibrational pollination > hormone spraying > natural pollination. The number of pollen tubes developed 48 h after pollination in each treatment was significantly higher than that after 24 and 9 h (P < 0.05). There were 470.50 pollen tubes per stigma 48 hours after pollination by B. terrestris, which was 1.47 times that after vibration pollination, 2.33 times that after hormone spraying, and 3.33 times that following natural pollination. Fruit setting rates achieved by the different pollination methods were comparable, but all were significantly higher than those achieved by natural pollination (P < 0.001). The number of seeds (234.70 seeds per fruit), single fruit weight (134.35 g per fruit), single fruit volume (123.69 cm³ per fruit), fruit width (66.12 mm), and pulp weight (34.70 g per fruit), produced after B. terrestris pollination were significantly, or extremely significantly, higher than those produced after other pollination methods (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). The number of seeds produced by vibration pollination (198.30 seeds per fruit), single fruit weight (118.07 g per fruit), single fruit volume (109.67 cm³per fruit), fruit width (63.53 mm), and pulp weight (29.27 g per fruit), were significantly higher than was achieved by hormone spraying or natural pollination (P < 0.05). The grain weight, single fruit weight and pulp weight of the fruits from flowers pollinated by B. terrestris were 1.18 times, 2.66 times, 3.61 times; 1.13 times, 1.32 times, 2.32 times and 1.19 times, 1.85 times and 2.52 times, higher, respectively, than those from plants pollinated by vibration, hormone spraying, or by natural pollination. The specific gravity of fruit, and the ratio of pulp to fruit weight of plants treated with hormone spray, were extremely significantly higher than those pollinated by the other three methods (P < 0.001), however, the reverse was the case for the ratio of fruit weight to seed number. [Conclusion]  The sonication of pollen by B. terrestris, or artificial, simulated sonication, caused more pollen to rise upward from the anthers to the stigma and more pollen tubes to be densely distributed on all parts of the stigma. However, after natural pollination or hormone spraying, pollen tubes were sparse and concentrated at the top of the stigma. In addition, the number of pollen tubes on the stigma was significantly, and positively, correlated with seed quantity, single fruit weight and pulp weight, which suggests the internal mechanism by which sonication of B. terrestris causes high density and wide distribution of tomato pollen on the stigma, thereby improving germination to improve fruit yield and quality. In conclusion, pollination by B. terrestris was the best pollination method for improving the quality and yield of tomatoes in solar greenhouses.