In order to promote the healthy development of listed companies, the government will give moderate subsidies. In the process of development, some listed companies relied on government subsidies. However, the relationship between government subsidies and corporate value and its pathway hasn’t got the unified conclusion yet. This article explores the relationship between government subsidies and corporate value via 2011–2022 China’s A-share listed companies. Studies have shown that government subsidies can significantly promote the improvement of corporate value from the two dimensions of the absolute level and the relative level. The intermediary effect of investor confidence is affected by the property rights. This article finds that investor confidence is an intermediary variable of government subsidies and corporate value in the non-state-owned enterprises, which means that when the listed enterprises have received government subsidies, it is conducive to establishing a positive image and increasing investors’ confidence in the listed companies. Therefore, the enterprises value will increase in the non-state-owned enterprises, However, the intermediary effect of investor confidence is not significant in state-owned enterprise.