Based on the data of individual rainfall, runoff and sediment yield of five runoff plots from 1984 to 2015 in Suining Soil and Water Conservation Experimental Station, 68 rain processes were classified into four rainfall patterns. The effects of rainfall patterns on runoff and sediment yield of sloping farmland were analyzed for different slopes. Then the results showed that there were highly significant correlations between runoff depths and rainfall intensities of different periods (p＜0.01). With the slope gradient increasing, the period of rainfall intensity for the greatest correlation coefficient became shorter. The amount of sediment was significantly correlated with the average rainfall intensity during each individual rainfall, and the correlation coefficient was maximum. The fitting curve between runoff depth, the amount of sediment, and rainfall intensity was an increasing function of convex and concave shape, of which interval was between 0.79 and 0.88, and 0.90 and 0.97, respectively. It was indicated that the correlation between sediment yield and rainfall intensity was more affinitive than that between runoff depth and rainfall intensity. With the slope gradient increasing, runoff and soil erosion became greater. At the same slope gradient, the yields of sediment and runoff of rainfall IV (short duration, heavy rainfall) was the biggest, followed by rainfall Ⅲ (moderate duration, moderate intensity), rainfall II (long duration, moderate intensity), and rainfall I (long duration, light intensity). Furthermore, the difference between rainfall IV and rainfall I was significant (p＜0.05). When the slope gradient was about 15°, the effects of rainfall pattern were the most obvious. Overall, runoff and sediment yield increased with increasing slope gradient. Rainfall IV was the main pattern of rainfall causing soil erosion. In the future, we should take some measures of soil and water conservation to reduce soil erosion caused by rainfall IV on sloping farmland.