Tianshan Mountains, one of the largest Mountain Ridges in the Asian continent, divide Xinjiang province into two different natural geographical parts: south and north Xinjiang. They display a distinct vertical gradient distribution of vegetation and soil types and play an important role in the dispersal, preservation and deposition of pollen. In order to investigate the relationship between modern vegetation and surface pollen on the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains, northern Xinjiang, China, we collected 23 modern pollen samples from Nanshan hill of Shihezi city along an altitudinal gradient from 300 m to 2400 m. In this study, the altitudinal pollen spectra could be subdivided into 4 pollen assemblage zones (forest vegetation, forest-steppe, Artemisia desert and typical desert), and 2 subzones (Artemisia-Chenopodiaceae typical desert and Thelypteris-Phragmites-Artemisia-Chenopodiaceae typical desert), based on modern vegetation data and characteristics of the surface pollen spectra. The results show that surface pollen assemblages at elevations above 400 m provide a good indication of modern vegetation. The most remarkable characteristic of Zone Ⅰ is that it has the highest percentage of spruce and a very high mean vegetation cover of Picea schrenkiana. The pollen samples in Zone Ⅱ are dominated by Picea, Chenopodiaceae, Artemisia and Polygonum and thus represent forest-steppe vegetation. Below 1350 m, pollen percentages of spruce are very low, partly because they are far away from the spruce forest and partly because the wind-driven downhill transport of arboreal pollen to lower elevation is not strong. Higher pollen percentages of Artemisia in Zones Ⅲ are from relatively high vegetation cover of Seriphidiam sp.. The percentages of Artemisia and Chenopodiaceae pollen in the zone are both more than 30%, and thus reflect Artemisia desert vegetation. Mean vegetation covers of desert vegetation are high in Zone Ⅳ, and pollen percentages of Chenopodiaceae are also high. However, surface pollen spectra can not accurately reflect modern vegetation at elevations lower than 400 m. Regional pollen spectra reflect desert vegetation in the Zone Ⅳ₂. But a large proportion of Thelypteris spore and Phragmites fan-shaped phytolith are recorded in the zone, suggesting the local wetland environment. In order to study the surface pollen source areas, we collected surface pollen at different altitude and identified the pollen categories. As was expected, few Thelypteris spore and Phragmites phytolith are indentified at elevations above 400 m, inferring that they were not transported by flowing water and air. When compared with the pollen spectrum of Caotanhu fossil profile, it is able to verify the ecological feasibility of the selection of agricultural sites, and also investigate the influence of cultivation on environment. The Artemisia/Chenopodiaceae (A/C) value is a good indicator of climate change and an index for distinguishing steppe and desert vegetation in semi-arid and arid areas to a certain extent. The value in Zone Ⅳ₂ is higher than in Zone Ⅳ₁. We think that it is not linked to climatic drying but probably reflect human disturbance at Caotanhu. So in some local environments, the value should be used carefully when human disturbance is involved in reconstructing palaeoclimate and palaeoenvironment.