Batch leaching experiments were conducted to examine the effects of different EDTA concentrations, washing duration, liquid/solid ratios and washing cycles on the removal of heavy metals in a contaminated agricultural soil from Baiyin City, Gansu Province, and the fractions of heavy metals in tested soils were determined before and after EDTA washing. The results showed that EDTA washing effect was much effective with high concentration and liquid/solid ratios, long washing duration and more washing cycles in general. Considering the feasibility on sites, a series of washing parameters were selected, it was 5 mmol/L of EDTA, liquid/solid ratio 2.5 and 3 times of successive washing cycles with 1 h for each. The removal rates of tested heavy metals under the selected condition were 55.2% for Cd, 21.9% for Cu, 19.3% for Pb and 20.9% for Zn, respectively. The results indicated that soil washing with EDTA was an efficient method to remove heavy metals from agricultural soil. Sequential fractionations of treated and untreated soil samples showed that EDTA was effective in removing the exchangeable, carbonate and oxide forms of Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn, but ineffective for the organic and residual forms of test heavy metals.