Our previous study indicated that photosystem II (PSII) is more sensitive to chilling-and-light stress than photosystem I (PSI) in tropical trees, and Erythrophleum guineense is more sensitive to chilling stress than Dalbergia odorifera and Khaya ivorensis (Huang et al. 2010), but the underlying physiological mechanisms are unclear. Although recent studies have reported that cyclic electron flow plays an important role in photoprotection, the role of cyclic electron flow (CEF) in protecting PSI and PSII of tropical tree species remains unclear. We investigated the effect of temporal chilling temperature on energy distribution in PSII, redox state of P700 and CEF in the above mentioned tropical evergreen tree species grown in an open field. Our results indicated that the over-closure of PSII reaction centers at chilling temperature led to excess excitation pressure in PSII. At temporal chilling temperature under low light, PSI acceptor side limitation (Y(NA)) was lower than those at 25°C for all species. Although effective quantum yield of CEF (Y(CEF)) was not significantly stimulated in E. guineense and K. ivorensis under temporal chilling at low light levels, the ratio of Y(CEF) to effective quantum yield of PSII (Y(II)) significantly increased. Under the chilling condition Y(CEF)/Y(II) was stimulated much higher in K. ivorensis and D. odorifera compared to that in the chilling sensitive E. guineense. These results suggested that stimulation of Y(CEF)/Y(II) plays an important role in protecting PSI and PSII from photoinhibition against chilling stress.