<p>With the development of China’s green finance policies, the water-saving loan has become a vital financial instrument. This study investigates how high-water-consumption (HWC) enterprises select water-saving approaches among self-saving, outsourced-saving, and cooperative-saving, supported by water-saving loans. Three strategic perspectives—cost-constrained, efficiency-enhancement, and profit-oriention—are employed to explore strategies for optimizing water-saving performance. Results show that preferential loan policies and lower investment costs significantly improve water-saving performance in efficiency-focused and profit-driven enterprises, whereas cost-constrained enterprises benefit less. Consumer preferences for water conservation enhance performance in efficiency- and profit-driven strategies, but their impact diminishes in cost-restricted environments. Cooperative-saving approach presents the greatest potential for water conservation when underpinned by suitable cost- and benefit-sharing frameworks. Outsourced-savings approach outperforms self-saving when the water-saving investment cost of the water-saving service company (WSSCO) is less than half that of the HWC enterprises. The optimal strategy is contingent on the enterprise’s strategic focus: cost-constrained enterprises should choose between outsourced-saving and self-saving depending on water-saving investment costs, enterprises gain the most from cooperative-saving under the efficiency-enhancement perspective, and profit-driven enterprises attain better results through self-saving. These findings provide theoretical justification for developing specialized water-saving loan instruments and offer practical direction for decision-making by HWC enterprises within China’s emerging green finance framework.</p>