By using of the MATLAB software functions including lsqcurvefit, nlinfit, lsqnonlin, fminsearch, fminunc and fgoalattain, the van Genuchten equation parameters were fitted. The conclusions showed that the fitting effects of the MATLAB functions such as lsqcurvefit, nlinfit, curvefit and nlintool were better, the program had small size and rapid convergence. Especially, the fitting effects of the MATLAB software functions were more excellent than RETC and REDT with fewer experimental data.