The Croat is featuring in his first tournament since earning his maiden major title against Kei Nishikori at Flushing Meadows earlier this month and he started with a straightforward 6-3 6-4 triumph over Chinese wildcard Bai Yan at the ATP 500 hard-court event in Beijing.
Cilic, seeded fourth, did not have it all his own way and had to stave off four break points, but he was able to progress behind an impressive 76 per cent of first-serve points won.
The world number nine finished runner-up at the tournament in 2009 and 2011 and is aiming to boost his hopes of featuring at the season-ending ATP Tour Finals in November.
"It's important for me to keep focusing on the improvement of my game and try to recreate the game I was playing at the US Open," Cilic commented after his win.
"It's going to be a process for me at all the tournaments to keep my level at the high point where I want it to be."
Awaiting Cilic in the next round is Joao Sousa, who came from behind to beat Teymuraz Gabashvili 1-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-4.
Fifth seed Grigor Dimitrov joins Cilic in round two, but he made hard work of it in a 6-1 3-6 6-3 victory over Fernando Verdasco.
The world number 10, who had lost to Verdasco in their only previous encounter in Bastad last year, hit 11 aces and won three of the 11 break-point opportunities he had, but he will be keen to improve having successfully landed just 63 per cent of first serves.
Vasek Pospisil fired down 10 aces on his way to a 6-4 6-3 victory against Lukas Rosol. The Canadian could now face world number one Novak Djokovic who has an incredible 19-0 record at the tournament and has won the event on four occasions, but the Serbi must first defeat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
Rounding off the action, wildcard Viktor Troicki needed just over 75 minutes to overcome Mikhail Youzhny 6-3 6-4.