Multiuser MIMO (MU-MIMO), in which the base station transmits multiple streams to multiple users, has received significant importance as a way of achieving spectral efficiency (SE) and energy efficiency (EE). However, these two important design criteria conflict with each other and a careful study of their trade-off is mandatory for designing future wireless communication systems. This paper investigates the trade-off between EE and SE in downlink MU-MIMO system which is adopted by 3GPP LTE-Advanced to meet IMT-Advanced targets. The EE is measured as, “throughput (bits) per Joule” while both RF transmit power and circuit power consumptions are considered. In this paper, given the SE requirement, a constrained optimization problem where constraints redefined with cubic inequality is formulated to maximize EE. Then, a novel resource allocation algorithm is proposed to achieve maximum EE. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme and illustrate the fundamental trade-offs between energy efficient and spectral efficient transmission. Our analytical results shed light on future “green” network planning in downlink MU-MIMO systems.