Litter water retention characteristic can be obtained after survey and analyze, and study the process of water retention capacity of litter in the 4 typical vegetations (mixed wood, broadleaf forest, bamboo forest and shrub forest). The result show that litter amount is shrub forest > broadleaf forest > mixed wood >bamboo forest. The maximum of water retention depth is shrub forest > mixed wood > broadleaf forest >bamboo forest, and the maximum of water retention rate is mixed wood > shrub forest > broadleaf forest >bamboo forest. In the first 2h of water retention capacity of litter, water absorption rate in shrub forest is 1.949 mm/h,1.031 mm/h in mixed wood and broadleaf forest, and 0.809 mm/h in the bamboo forest. So the result show that the water retention capacity of litter in different vegetations in Jinyun mountain natural protection district in the Three Gorges reservoir areas.