In order to evaluate the influences of land-cover changes on surface runoff and sediment yield, two different land-cover data (1985,2001) in Xixi watershed of Jinjiang Basin were applied to the distributed SWAT(soil and water assessment tool) model. Quantitative results were obtained separately for the whole basin and subbasins. The results show that the effects of land-cover change was little to the runoff yield, while was significant to the sediment yield on the whole basin. Land-cover changes in sub-basins indicated that forest was the most important land use type for decreasing the runoff and sediment yield, orchard is the second, and followed by farmland and grassland. On the contrary, construction land contributed most for the increase of runoff and sediment yield.