Under warning climate, vegetation phenology changes dramatically, which significantly alter ecological process. The response of vegetation phenology to drought is a crucial issue to understand vegetation response to climate change. In this study, we analyzed the spatial and temporal pattern of the vegetation phenology response to drought. Vegetation phenology metrics were extracted from AVHRR NDVI3g time-series during 1982-2013. Drought was defined by multiple time-scale Standard Precipitation-Evaporation index (SPEI). Results showed that: 1) during1982-2013, vegetation phenology was highly controlled by drought on different time scales and by effects of seasonal drought (3 month time-scale SPEI) in particular; 2) the starting of the growing season (SOS) was earlier than before; the ending of the growing season (EOS) was delayed than before; the length of the growing season (LOS) was lengthening; the changing rate of SOS, EOS and LOS was respectively 63.79%, 59.77% and 62.83%; 3) except desert vegetation, spring and early summer drought of the same year all had the effect of inhibiting the SOS of other vegetation types regions, e.g., drought delays SOS, and the autumn drought of the same year all had the effect of inhibiting the EOS of other vegetation types regions; 4) there are differences in the responses of different vegetation types to the drought intensity index, the response levels are concentrated in -10d/0.1 -10d/0.1, e.g. 1d/0.1 indicates that each increase in the drought intensity index of 0.1 will cause a delay of 1 day in the phenology metrics, -1d/0.1 indicates that each increase in the drought intensity index of 0.1 will cause a advance of 1 day in the phenology metrics.