The sustainable development of land use has being emphasized because of population explanation, resource shortage and environment pollution. Land use classification, which was broadly used, is a basic work in land use management. This paper analyzed the conflict between land use classification and ecological protection based on the former researches in China and a new classification system named ecological land use classification was put forward. Firstly, the main land use types in Beijing were determined with 9 first-level types and 15 second-level types through analysis and aggregation. The basic ecosystem service value of each land use type was determined based on former researchers and some corresponding correction. The correction was used to make the value suitable for the practical situation, spatially and temporally. After that, the ecological zones in Beijing were divided based on the city main function division and 4 ecological zones were named as, urban zone, shrub-plain zone, shrub semi-mountainous zone and exurb-mountainous zone. The first ecological land use classification was divided based on the ecological location correction of ecosystem service value and 6 first-level ecological types were divided. The correction coefficient used in this paper was acquired by expert consultation method. Secondly, the factors which significantly influence the land ecological suitability were selected to evaluate the land ecological suitability in Beijing, including precipitation, slope and accumulated temperature, and so on. Taking town as the evaluation unit, the land ecological suitability evaluation map was generated. Therefore, the ecological suitability of each first-level ecological land use types was distinguished. The first ecological land use classification map and the suitability evaluation map were overlapped on the support of geographic information system software, and the sub-ecological land use classification was achieved. Consequently, the ecological land use classification was accomplished including 6 first-level types and 18 second-level types. Finally, the classification method was applied to land use map of 2007 for the ecological land use classification map in Beijing. It showed that the ecological land use classification grades were decreased form the central city to suburb and the grades in southeastern part is higher than that in the northwestern region in Beijing. The statistic data showed that the area of the fourth class, the fifth class and the sixth class land is larger than the first, the second and the third class. Based on the results, the area and the distribution of the important ecological land use types can be known for land use management. The land use classification used in this paper can consummate the land use classification, differentiate the ecological foundation importance degree of land use types, and protect land use types with high ecosystem service value in order to promote the sustainable land use in Beijing. The method used in this paper must be validated in the future research. However, the research offers a new perspective to ecological land use classification in metropolises and it could be a helpful reference for the further studies.