Increasing the sophistication of non-oil exports is one of the ways to reach high economic growth in developing countries. Due to the importance of the subject, this study attempted to first measure the non-oil export sophistication and its main drivers for Iran. Secondly, using panel data and time series of 1997-2013 for 71 middle income developing countries and for Iran, the factors influencing the non-oil export sophistication were investigated, using the generalized least squares method. The survey shows that the non-oil export sophistication in Iran has significantly increased compared to the countries surveyed. This growth was mostly due to the development of processing industries (with medium technology), and those dependent on oil and gas resources. Furthermore, statistical analysis confirmed the impact of such variables as human capital and imports on the export sophistication of developing countries and Iran. Therefore, a proposed policy for increasing the export sophistication is to integrate human capital development policies with trade policies.