The wide use of tobacco among a substantial portion of university students could foreshadow an increase in overall adult tobacco use. This cross-sectional study aimed to explore the impact of smoking intention on each of the Substance Use Risk Profile Scale (SURPS) subscales amongst a sample of Chinese university students and examine factor structure, reliability, and validity. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in this study. Data were collected from a randomly selected sample that consisted of 2864 students in six universities in China. 2700 university students (53.4% females, mean age 20 years) were included in this study. Factor analysis and correlation coefficient were used for the validity of the SURPS, Cronbach's alpha was used for the reliability of the SURPS, and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to assess the psychometric properties of the SURPS. The factor analysis of construct validity identified four dimensions of the SURPS, explaining 56.07% of the total variance. Good internal consistency and adequate concurrent validity were found in four subscales of the SURPS. Significant group differences were found on the Impulsivity, Anxiety Sensitivity, and Sensation Seeking subscales, with substance-dependent groups scoring higher than controls. Our findings demonstrate SURPS can be usefully applied in China, especially in respect of the risk assessment of substance use from individual characteristics in China. It also has the potential to implement early intervention for reducing substance use among university students.