In order to explore the feasibility of soil utilization of water-base drilling cuttings from shale gas field near Southwest China, the cuttings were mixed with decomposed sludge and/or local purple soil with different proportions to form artificial substrates, and indoor simulation experiment with twice quantitative washing were conducted to study physical properties and desalination effect of the artificial substrates. The results showed that the addition of decomposed sludge had a significant effect on physical properties of artificial substrates, with the proportion increase of decomposed sludge, the original salt contents increased and the bulk densities decreased. Twice quantitative washing experiment showed that the addition of decomposed sludge significantly reduced the average infiltration rate of the artificial substrate. After twice washing, the desalinization ratio of each artificial substrate was larger than 70% except for drilling cuttings: decomposed sludge =10:2, drilling cuttings: decomposed sludge =10:4, drilling cuttings: decomposed sludge: soil=10:2:1; the remaining salt contents of other artificial substrates were lower than 2 g/kg; pH values varied from 8.0 to 8.6. According to average infiltration rate, bulk density, pH value and salt content, after twice washing, the artificial substrates with water-base drilling cuttings as aggregates, decomposed sludge and/or local purple soil have better key physical properties.