An electrophotographic image forming apparatus, comprises an electrophotographic photoreceptor; an image forming section for forming a toner image on a surface of the electrophotographic photoreceptor; an intermediate transfer member; a first transferring section for transferring the toner image formed on the surface of the electrophotographic photoreceptor to a surface of the intermediate transfer member; and a second transferring section for transferring the toner image transferred on the surface the intermediate transfer member to a recording medium; wherein the electrophotographic photoreceptor comprises a surface layer forming the surface thereof and containing particles having a number average primary particle diameter of 1 to 300 nm and the surface of the electrophotographic photoreceptor has a hardness of 200 to 350 N/mm2 in universal hardness which is lower than the hardness in universal hardness of the surface of the intermediate transfer member.