A highly linearized microwave photonic link (MPL) based on a dual-drive Mach–Zehnder modulator (DDMZM) is proposed. Eliminating or suppressing these nonlinear distortions is achieved by adjusting the polarization of the light and the frequency of the radio frequency (rf) signal as well as controlling the dc bias voltage of DDMZMs. The proposed technique is verified by the simulation test of two-tone and three-tone. Theoretical analysis and simulation experiments show that under the two-tone condition, when the modulation depth is <0.8, intermodulation distortion (IMD) and even-order harmonic distortion (HD) can be completely eliminated, and third-order HD can be suppressed under the background noise level. Compared with traditional MPL, the spurious free dynamic range of MPL is improved by 11 dB. In addition, in the three-tone test, when the modulation depth is <1, the second-order distortion is completely eliminated and the IMD3 third-order HD are suppressed. The scheme can be used in single octave or multiple octave systems.