Marine bacterial production (BP) plays a critical role in ecosystem functioning, such as incorporation of organic matters into food webs and biogeochemical cycling. Besides environmental factors, BP has been suggested to be affected by bacterial community structure and diversity; however, investigation on this topic in marine pelagic ecosystems remains scarce. Here, using 30 data collected in the southern East China Sea across seasons, we examined the effects of bacterial 1) diversity, 2) taxonomic composition, and 3) relative abundances of dominant orders on BP. We also examined phylogenetic diversity and composition as well as functional diversity and composition. Our results show that BP increases with species diversity and exhibits correlation with taxonomic composition and relative abundances of certain dominant orders. Phylogenetic composition also affects BP. However, no effect of functional diversity and functional composition is found on BP.