BackgroundWith global aging on the rise, the number of older adults with disabilities was also increasing exponentially. There has been growing international interest in home rehabilitation care as a new method for older adults with disabilities.MethodThe current study is a descriptive qualitative study. Guided by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR), semistructured face-to-face interviews were performed to collect data. The interview data were analyzed using a qualitative content analysis method.ResultSixteen nurses with different characteristics from 16 cities participated in the interviews. The findings highlighted 29 implementation determinants of home-based rehabilitation care for older adults with disabilities, including 16 barriers, and 13 facilitators. These influencing factors aligned with all four CFIR domains that were used to guide the analysis and 15 of the 26 CFIR constructs. More barriers were identified in the CFIR domain of characteristics of individuals, intervention characteristics, and the outer setting, while fewer barriers were identified in the inner setting.ConclusionNurses from the rehabilitation department reported many barriers related to the implementation of home rehabilitation care. They reported facilitators to the implementation of home rehabilitation care despite the barriers, which provided practical recommendations for directions to be explored by researchers in China and elsewhere.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12877-023-03976-1.