[Objective] This study intended to compare the literature incremental trend of international studies on soil and water conservation, discipline distributions, cooperation network of institutions and authors, and research hot spots between China and foreign countries. It aims to provide a scientific and practical implication for scholars in the related fields, research institutions and government departments to enhance the citation frequency, strengthen international cooperation and pay attention to the research of agricultural science and so on. [Methods] Based on literature from 1986 to 2015 from the Web of science databases, CiteSpace visualization analysis software was used to analyze and process the citation data in the way of mapping knowledge domains. [Results] The literature on soil and water conservation increased steadily. United States, China, and Australia were ranked as the top three countries in the document output. European countries were the most high-yielding. The literatures span more disciplines, new disciplines emerged significantly. The cooperation between China and foreign institutions was closer; The tree diagram showed that an important cooperation ecological chain was established by China and America as an important output node. The most productive researchers were Belgian Poesen and Govers etc. who played an important role in bridging the academic cooperation between China and foreign countries. [Conclusion] The international research focus was similar. The soil and water conservation, soil erosion, runoff and model were the highest frequency hot keywords.