The spatial distribution characteristics of land use types under different terrain index gradients as well as the relationship between land use distribution pattern and topographic factors were studied in southern Anhui through calculating land use distribution indexes corresponding to different elevation, slopes and terrain indexes based on GIS technique. The results showed that: 1) The areas at altitude of 0-600 m, slope 0-21°and terrain index 0-1.575 0 occupy 93.10%, 83.11% and 93.89% of the total study area, respectively, dominating the distribution of land use types. 2) The study area is mainly composed of cultivated land, forest land and grassland. The terrain distribution of land use types has obvious hierarchical characteristics, cultivated land, water and construction land are mainly distributed in low terrain gradient, while forest land and grassland are mainly distributed on higher terrain gradient. 3) According to the relationship between land use and terrain features, land use pattern in southern Anhui tends to be more reasonable, but unreasonable land use is still existed, thus planning and management of land use need to be strengthened.