Urbanization is an important facet of economic development, and one of the most significant economic and social phenomena of the contemporary era. However, it is considered to have detrimental impacts on regional ecological systems, which could affect the ability of ecosystems to provide human services. Hohhot-Baotou-Ordos, is located in the midwest of Inner Mongolia, which is known as "golden triangle" region of Inner Mongolia. This area is experiencing rapid urbanization, and is becoming the most important economic and urbanized belt of Inner Mongolia, and also one of the richest regions in China. Furthermore, this region is famous for sand-fixing and soil conservation. Thus, it is vital to understand how urbanization change is influencing ecosystem services in the Hohhot-Baotou-Ordos region. In this paper, we analyze the changes in urbanization and ecosystem services (sand-fixing and soil conservation) that occurred between 2000 and 2010 in the Hohhot-Baotou-Ordos region. We then used redundancy analysis (RDA) to reveal the relationships between urbanization and ecosystem services in the Hohhot-Baotou-Ordos region. The results showed the following. (1) Urbanization progressed sharply from 2000 to 2010 in the Hohhot-Baotou-Ordos region. The urban population, the resident population urbanization rate, gross domestic product (GDP), and the index of construction land increased by 83.39%, 35.52%, 1150.00%, and 51.91%, respectively. (2) There was an obvious increase in sand-fixing and soil conservation (20.17% and 4.39%, respectively). (3) Correlation analysis showed that the changes in sand-fixing and soil conservation were positively correlated (P<0.05) with the change in permanent residents urbanization rate, and were negatively correlated (P<0.01) with the change in the index of construction land. Furthermore, an RDA two-dimensional ordination diagram indicated that temperature, precipitation days, wind speed, the urbanization rate of permanent residents, and the index of construction land were the main influence factors of sand-fixing, which could significantly explain 68.3% of the data. The explanation of the urbanization rate of permanent residents and the index of construction land were higher, 21.5% and 34.2% respectively. On the basis of the results, certain management strategies are recommended for sustainable development of city and ecosystem. Firstly, we should promote a greater migration of the rural population into urban areas, properly adjust the number of villages and small towns and increase the number of large towns. Secondly, the government should make more reasonable plans for urban development, prohibit the disorderly expansion of construction land, and increase the regional ecological support to towns. Thirdly, we should use land resources in an economical and intensive way and expand urban ecological space by converting city land and other polluted land into natural landscapes, with the purpose of realizing green urbanization and finally to realize the win-win situation of having urbanization and ecological system.