Based on two NDVI datasets (Pathfinder AVHRR NDVI and SPOT VEGETATION NDVI) from 1982 to 2010 and four series of aeolian sandy land data visually interpreted from the Landsat images of 1975, 1990, 2000, and 2008 with the aid of geographic information system (GIS) technology, the coupling relationship between variations of NDVI and change of aeolian sandy land in the Yarlung Zangbo River basin of Tibet, China were analyzed using grey correlation analysis method. Thereafter, their coupling relationship with climate factors (temperature and precipitation) were discussed extracted from meteorological data collected from eight monitoring stations in or around the study area during the period of 1957-2007. The results showed that: 1) The annual mean NDVI in the Yarlung Zangbo River basin demonstrated a fluctuating growing trend during the period of 1982-2010. Meanwhile, the spatial distribution of annual mean NDVI presented a gradually decreasing trend from Milin wide valley in the downstream to the middle and upper reaches of the river basin gradually, with the largest NDVI value found in Milin wide valley and the smallest value in Maquanhe wide valley. 2) There were 273 697.54 hm² of aeolian sandy lands in the river basin in 2008, which showed a spatially decreasing trend from the Maquanhe wide valley in the headwater area to the middle and lower reaches. The area of aeolian sandy lands in the river basin increased slowly from 1975 to 2008, with the quickest increase during the 1990-1999 period and slowest increase during the 2000-2008 period. 3) The main factors which influenced the variations of annual mean NDVI and variations of NDVI in growing season (July to September) was the annual mean temperature in Maquanhe wide valley, while being annual precipitation in Shigatse wide valley and Shannan wide valley, respectively. However, in Milin wide valley, the variations of annual mean NDVI were mainly influenced by the expansion of aeolian sandy land, while that of NDVI in growing season were mainly influenced by annual precipitation. 4) The degree of correlation between variation of annual mean NDVI and annual change of aeolian sandy land in different wide valleys showed a decreasing trend totally from the downstream to the middle and upper reaches of the river basin. Besides, the variation of NDVI in growing season in the basin was mainly affected by mean temperature and annual precipitation, while in non-growing season (October to June) it was mainly affected by the expansion of aeolian sandy land.