Abstract: Xinjiang's cotton industry occupied an important position in global cotton production. However, the current strategy of surface drip irrigation cannot meet the high efficiency water saving and salt leaching requirement, seriously limiting sustainable development. Therefore, a field experiment was conducted in 2021 to explore the effects of surface-subsurface relay drip irrigation on soil water and salt movement, crop growth, yield, desalination efficiency and irrigation water use efficiency in saline soil. The experiment included three irrigation levels: 0.8ETc+120 mm (W1), 0.8ETc+240 mm (W2) and 0.8ETc+360 mm (W3) and three irrigation water level distribution modes: 100%surface drip irrigation (F1), 75%surface drip irrigation + 25%subsurface drip irrigation (F2), and 25%surface drip irrigation + 75%subsurface drip irrigation (F3). F1 was assigned to submembrane drip irrigation, and F2 and F3 were assigned to surface-underground relay drip irrigation. Finally, the feasibility was verified by the water-salt numerical model. Results indicated that different irrigation level and distribution modes significantly affected soil water and salt distribution, cotton growth and yield (P<0.05). Under low irrigation level treatment (W1), the soil desalination and desalination efficiency of each distribution mode were poor, making it unsuitable for salt leaching and achieving high crop yields. Under medium irrigation level treatment (W2), the average soil moisture content for F2 and F3 was 2.11% and 6.69% higher than F1, with desalination efficiency increasing by 4.53 and 3.06 times, respectively. Under high irrigation level treatment (W3), relay drip irrigation significantly improved soil water and salt conditions compared to drip irrigation under film. Due to better water and salt conditions, under medium (W2) and high (W3) water treatments, the seed cotton yield of F2 and F3 was significantly higher than that of F1, with the yield ranking as F1 < F3 < F2. As the irrigation level increased, the seed cotton yield, irrigation water productivity and desalination efficiency under surface-subsurface relay drip irrigation were significantly better than drip irrigation under film. Optimal conditions were observed with an leaching level of 222～282 mm, the ratio of surface drip irrigation to subsurface drip irrigation was 1.00-1.94, resulting in the best comprehensive benefits for soil salinity, yield and irrigation water use efficiency in saline cotton fields. This study provides a theoretical basis for the implementation of relay drip irrigation in saline areas of Xinjiang.