A high-accuracy estimation method for the rise time of shock tube reflection step pressure is proposed. First, a theoretical model for estimating the rise time of shock tube reflected step pressure is formulated, which is based on the step response characteristics of the pressure sensor. Secondly, the empirical mode decomposition is used to eliminate the noise components of step response signal, and the attenuation ringing component is extracted. Thirdly, the first peak time and oscillation period of the attenuation ringing component are estimated based on an attenuation sine fitting. Finally, the high-accuracy estimation of the rise time of shock tube reflection step pressure is realized according to the theoretical model. Simulation results show that the average relative error of the rise time estimation of step pressure is 2. 57% , which is about 7. 3 times and 2 times lower than those of the traditional method and the direct fitting method, respectively. Shock tube experiments show that the mean of the estimation values of rise time are separately 0. 712 μs and 0. 876 μs, and the measurement relative errors are 0. 14% and 1. 9% under the cases of 0. 25 mm and 0. 07 mm aluminum diaphragms. It is obviously smaller than the relative errors ( 7. 5% and 4. 3% ) of the measurement results of traditional methods. These results indicate that the proposed method improves the estimation accuracy of the rise time of shock tube reflection step pressure effectively and has stronger robustness.