The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of teacher-student interaction on undergraduate students’ self-efficacy in a Chinese university setting. Students came from natural science, management, economics, medicine, engineering and humanities. The empirical results demonstrate that teacher-student interaction has positive impact on students’ self-efficacy and their preference of the flipped classroom. Furthermore, the positive relationship between teacher-student interaction and students’ self-efficacy is partially mediated by students’ preference of the flipped classroom. Educators should focus on student-centered learning and motivate students’ preference of the flipped classroom. Students should be encouraged to actively participate in the flipped learning as well. It contributes to the reform of the flipped classroom and improvement of teaching quality in the universities.