[Objective] The habitat quality and habitat degradation in the Qilian Mountains was explored, in order to reveal the extent of human activities affecting the ecological environment of the Qilian Mountains and to provide scientific references for the ecological environmental protection and development in the region.[Methods] The land use and landscape pattern changes in the Qilian Mountains in the past 35 years based on the national 1:100 000 land use data since 1970s, and then the InVEST model was used to evaluate the evolution in habitat quality.[Results] ① Grassland and unused land were the most important land use types in the study area, followed by forest land, cultivated land, waters, urban and rural construction land. Among them, changes of grassland and urban and rural construction land were more severe, the former was reduced firstly and then increased, while the latter continued to increase. ② In temporal scale, with the change of land use type, the habitat quality of Qilian Mountain area gradually improved from the deterioration, and the habitat quality was the best in 2015. ③ At spatial scale, both of the habitat quality and habitat degradation degree in the Qilian Mountains were high in the east and low in the west.[Conclusion] Superior natural conditions result in higher habitat quality, and higher intensity of human activities are responsible for habitat degradation.