RV reducer is the core component of industrial robot. It is of great significance to raise the transmission efficiency of RV reducer for improving the transmission performance of industrial robot. RV reducer belongs to the 2K-V type planetary gear train and consists of an equal speed ratio mechanism. Therefore, according to the structural characteristics of RV reducer, the virtual power theory and split power theory are adopted, and a calculation method of transmission efficiency for RV reducer is proposed. Firstly, the structure of a common RV reducer is introduced. Related structural analysis, kinematic analysis, and loaded analysis are given. Secondly, RV reducer is represented by the method of graph theory. By the virtual power theory and split power theory, the power flow direction is determined, and the values of split powers are calculated. Finally, according to the graph representation for RV reducer and the calculation principle of meshing power loss of planetary gear, the power losses of meshing gear pairs are calculated, respectively. According to the input and output values described in graph representation of RV reducer, the formula of transmission efficiency for RV reducer is derived. The calculation of transmission efficiency for RV-40E reducer is considered as an example. The result is compared with previous work on the subject, and the relations between design parameters and transmission efficiency of RV reducer are discussed.