In this study we took the variation characteristics of runoff and sediment of the Xinjiang river basin. Studies were based on the long-term measured of discharge and sediment at three hydrological stations,and the data was nearly 60 years. Those stations were Shangrao station, Yiyang station and Meigang station, and they were on the Xinjiang river main stream.The results showed that:1)Great variability at inter-annual scales on discharge was analyzed at upper three stations. Compared with the average annual flow, the flow in 1990s was increased more than 20%. Therefore, the time in 1990s was abundant of rainfall. The main period of the runoff series was in every 29 years and 9 years, however, the runoff will be fully expressive of randomness in the future. 2)The sediment had reduced significantly since 1990s, which leaded to a turning point on double accumulative curve of runoff and sediment. The R/S analysis of runoff indicate that the sediment will be keep on reducing. 3) One of the reasons for the reduction of sediment load at Meigang station was the less runoff in 2000s, which decreased by 5% compared with the average runoff. Another main factor was that the sediment was intercepted by large and medium reservoirs ,which were built between 1990 and 2000 such as Jiepai reservoir, Daao reservoir and Qixing reservoir. Owing to the control of soil erosion and construction of water conservancy projects, it will be expected to reduce the sediment at Meigang station in the future.