Objective l-methionine is an important sulfur-containing amino acid essential for humans and animals. Its biosynthesis pathway is complex and highly regulated. This study aims to explore the bottleneck limiting the improvement of l-methionine productivity and apply efficient strategies to increase l-methionine production in engineered E. coli. Results The enzyme O-succinylhomoserine sulfhydrylase involved in thiolation of OSH to form homocysteine was overexpressed in the engineered strain E. coli W3110 IJAHFEBC/PAm, resulting in l-methionine production increased from 2.8 to 3.22 g/L in shake flask cultivation. By exogenous addition of l-glycine as the precursor of one carbon unit, the titer of l-methionine was increased to 3.68 g/L. The glycine cleavage system was further strengthened for the efficient one carbon unit supply and a l-methionine titer of 3.96 g/L was obtained, which was increased by 42% compared with that of the original strain. Conclusions Insufficient supply of one carbon unit was found to be the issue limiting the improvement of l-methionine productivity and its up-regulation significantly promoted the l-methionine production in the engineered E. coli.