Abstract: Soil nitrogen and phosphorus loss are closely related to a surface runoff under natural rainfall. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the mechanism behind these and influencing factors in the vegetation construction for water and soil conservation in the Qinghai alpine region of China. In this study, the typical vegetations were taken as the research objects, including Populus cathayana, Picea crassifolia,Larix, principis-rupprechii, Grass land, Juniperus przewalskii in the study area. The runoff plot combined with indoor experiment was also used to analyze the characteristics of nitrogen and phosphorus loss to surface runoff for different types of vegetation. Redundancy analysis was made to identify the main influencing factors on the loss of soil nitrogen and phosphorus. The results indicated as follows: 1) Under the condition of natural rainfall, the rainfall interception effect of different vegetation types was different, and the interception effect was affected by the rainfall. In the rainfall range of 0-50 mm, the average interception rate of each vegetation was 49.37% for Populus cathayana forest, 32.62% for Juniperus przewalskii, and 21.21% for Grass land, 18.90% for Picea crassifolia forest, 9.28% for Larix principis-rupprechtii forest. 2) There was a positive correlation between penetrating rainfall and surface runoff in the study period, while surface runoff depended greatly on the penetrating rainfall. There was also an obvious difference in the runoff reduction of different planting types. Specifically, the best runoff reduction was found in Larix principis-rupprechtii forest, whereas, the worst was in Populus cathayana forest. 3) The loss of nitrogen and phosphorus in Qinghai alpine region was relatively low, and the loss of nitrogen and phosphorus in the surface runoff was ranked in order of nitrate nitrogen>ammonia nitrogen>phosphate. The total loss of nitrogen and phosphorus in different vegetation types was ranked in the order of Populus cathayana>barren grassland>Picea crassifolia>Juniperus przewalskii>Larix principis-rupprechtii. 4) The redundancy analysis showed that the loss of nitrogen and phosphorus depended mainly on the surface runoff, saturated water content, and bulk density. Five typical vegetations can be expected to effectively alleviate nitrogen and phosphorus loss to surface runoff, where the interception and nutrient control effect of Larix principis-rupprechtii forest was the best, while that of Populus cathayana forest was the worst. Consequently, some suggestions can be given during this time to reduce surface runoff and saturated water content, while increasing bulk density for the effective reduction of nitrogen and phosphorus loss. This finding can provide a sound reference for regional vegetation construction in the future.