As the most basic natural geographical factor, topography affects land use change to a certain extent and has an important impact on the formation of spatial pattern of land use. Taking the Qi River Basin in Taihang Mountain as an example, DEM was used to extract elevation and slope information, and the transfer matrix, regional statistical analysis and terrain distribution index system were used to analyze the temporal and spatial variability of land use in the Qi River Basin from 1990 to 2015, and the land use status on the topographic gradient is quantitatively analyzed. The results showed that the largest change in the past 25 years was cultivated land and grassland. The largest net reduction of area occured in the cultivated land, followed by the forest land. However, the grassland showed the greatest increase of area, followed by the construction land. The area of unused land did not changed obviously. Cultivated land, construction land and grassland ecosystems were concentrated in the low-terrain gradient region, but forest land was concentrated in the high-terrain gradient region. Cultivated land and forest land were decreased in the low-altitude region, whereas water area and construction land were increased in the low-altitude region. Cultivated land was decreased in the low slope region, and construction land was increased centrally in the low-slope region.