To reveal whether the dynamics of solar activity precede those of global temperature, especially in terms of global warming, the relationship between total solar irradiance (TSI), which is treated as a proxy of solar activity, and global surface temperature (GST) is investigated in the frequency domain using wavelet coherence. The results suggest that the effect of TSI on GST is mainly reflected on the characteristic scale around 22 yr, and variations in TSI lead to changes in GST with some delay effect as shown by the phase difference arrows. However, this implicated relationship has been perturbed by excessive CO₂ emissions since 1960. Through the combination of co-integration analysis and wavelet coherence, the hidden relationship between TSI and GST has been uncovered without the CO₂ effect and the results further indicate that TSI has a positive effect on GST at the characteristic scale around 22 yr with a 3 yr lead.