In order to reveal the impact of water and fertilizer interactions of shallow-buried drip irrigation on the water use efficiency (WUE) of spring maize, a field experiment on the effects of different water and fertilizers combinations on WUE of spring maize under shallow-buried drip irrigation was carried out in 2017-2020 by using quadratic regression orthogonal test design, with irrigation amount (W), nitrogen application rate (N) and potassium application rate (K) as independent variables and WUE as dependent variables. The results showed that under the action of single factor, WUE increased first and then decreased with increasing of water and fertilizer consumption, and the degree of influence followed the order of W>N>K. When the two factors interact, the influence of WN, WK and NK on WUE showed a convex trend, and there was a maximum value, and the degree of influence was WN>NK>WK. When the three factors of W, N and K interacted together, WUE increased first and then decreased with the increasing of the coding level of W, N and K. The treatments of middle-water-fertilizer could get higher WUE compared with the treatments of low-water-fertilizer and high-water-fertilizer. By the model optimization, it was concluded that higher WUE (≥ 25.00 kg/(hm²·mm)) could be obtained under the conditions of irrigation rate of 43.25 to 58.87 mm, nitrogen application rate of 229.93 to382.97 kg/hm² and potassium application rate of 104.94 to 148.49 kg/hm². This study provided a scientific basis for optimizing the management of water and fertilizer under shallow-buried drip irrigation and obtaining high-efficiency use of water for spring maize in the experimental area.