On the basis of perfect PC2D simulation to the measured current density vs voltage (J-V) curve of the best selective emitter (SE) solar cell fabricated by the CSG Company using the screen printing phosphoric paste method, we systematically investigated the effect of the parameters of gridline, base, selective emitter, back surface field (BSF) layer and surface recombination rate on performance of the SE solar cell. Among these parameters, we identified that the base minority carrier lifetime, the front and back surface recombination rate and the ratio of the sheet-resistance of heavily and lightly doped region are the four largest efficiency-affecting factors. If all the parameters have ideal values, the SE solar cell fabricated on a p-type monocrystalline silicon wafer can even obtain the efficiency of 20.45%. In addition, the simulation also shows that fine gridline combining dense gridline and increasing bus bar number while keeping the lower area ratio can offer the other ways to improve the efficiency.