BACKGROUND Cytochrome P450‐mediated detoxification plays an important role in the development of insecticide resistance. Previous studies have demonstrated that overexpression of CYP6BG1 was responsible for permethrin resistance in Plutella xylostella, and our experiments also showed that upregulation of this gene is associated with chlorantraniliprole resistance in P. xylostella. However, the transcriptional regulation involved in the expression of CYP6BG1 remains unknown. To further investigate the regulation of CYP6BG1 expression, the promoters of this gene were cloned and analyzed from one susceptible and four different resistant populations of P. xylostella. RESULTS First, the promoter region of P. xylostella CYP6BG1 was compared in five populations, and three types of 5′‐flanking region were found. Second, the region between −562 and +49 of CYP6BG1 in a field population (TH) of P. xylostella showed the highest promoter activity and could be induced by chlorantraniliprole. Third, the transcriptional factor FTZ‐F1, which is an orphan nuclear receptor and binds to the fushi tarazu (ftz) gene, was predicted by the online software Alggen and Jaspar. It was proved to regulate the expression of CYP6BG1 by RNAi. The expression levels of FTZ‐F1 and CYP6BG1 could be induced by chlorantraniliprole and were significantly higher in the resistant populations. CONCLUSIONS These data give a better understanding of the transcriptional regulation of an important insecticide detoxification enzyme gene, and therefore will help in understanding the molecular mechanisms of insecticide resistance in P. xylostella. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry