Tectonic relief is a basis of detailed structural analysis and balanced cross section construction and restoration. For a long time, there was no rigorous definition and a lack of theoretical description of tectonic relief. To a large extent, the analysis of tectonic relief in the past was limited to topographic and structural reliefs. Based on an understanding of concepts such as detailed structural analysis and topographic and structural reliefs, we extend the concept of structural relief to tectonic relief. We define the tectonic relief as the relative difference in tectonic elevation between two geological points, with the definition of tectonic elevation as the effective depth of a geological point when the structure forms at this point. Therefore, we express the tectonic relief as the negative value of the relative difference of tectonic elevation between the two geological points. In this paper, we propose a new way of detailed structural analysis, based on tectonic relief analysis, with consideration of the tectonic potential as the essence of tectonic relief. A method is proposed for the estimation of tectonic relief, with the determination of tectonic elevation developed for different structural and tectonic environments. The tectonic relief is attributed to be the result of geological processes, with the temporal and spatial meaning included. The theory of tectonic relief proposed in this paper expands the view of traditional structural geology, which may promote the modernization of the structural geology and tectonics.