The purpose of this study is to clarify the spatiotemporal variation characteristics of litter from different stand types on the Loess Plateau, which helps to deeply understand their soil and water conservation functions and also provides basic materials and theoretical support for soil erosion simulation and prediction in the watershed. Three types of planted stands, namely Populus davidiana, Robinia pseudoacacia and Hippophae rhamnoides, as well as four secondary successional stage stands including the early arbor (Betula platyphylla), middle arbor (Quercus wutaishanica-Pine tabulaeformis mixed forests), sub-top stage arbor (Pine tabulaeformis) and top stage arbor (Quercus wutaishanica) were selected for investigation on the coverage, the thickness and the water-holding capacity of litter in the Beiluo River Basin. The water-holding capacity and water absorption processes of litter were investigated by soaking method, a commonly used method in previous studies. The litter thickness from each stand type in the watershed ranged from 4.55 to 1.38 cm and the biomass from 17.24 to 4.99 t/hm². The water-holding depth and the effective interception depth at 24 h for litter from different stand types ranged from 2.73 to 0.96 mm and 2.45 to 0.81 mm, respectively. Litter from Quercus wutaishanica-Pine tabulaeformis mixed forests saw the highest value of the water-holding depth and the effective retention depth at 24 h, followed by that of Pine tabulaeformis/Quercus wutaishanica, Populus davidiana, Robinia pseudoacacia, Hippophae rhamnoides and Betula platyphylla. A logarithmic function could be used to represent the relationship between the water-holding capacity of litter and the soaking time (R² ≥ 0.85, P<0.01), showing that the water-holding capacity increased the most rapidly within 2 h and tended to be constant at 8 h. This suggests that forestland litter could play an important role in intercepting surface runoff from short-duration and high-intensity rainfall, which is prone to severe soil erosion. The thickness, biomass, water-holding capacity and water-absorbing rate of the semi-decomposed layer were all greater than those of the undecomposed layer. The water absorption capacity and interception performance of litter from the secondary successional stands in the basin were generally higher than that from the planted stands. Compared with the other vegetation succession stages, Quercus wutaishanica-Pine tabulaeformis mixed forests had the best performance in terms of litter coverage, biomass and water-holding capacity due to the optimal stand structure and stand density (1200-1600 trees/hm²). It is recommended to emphasize the construction and protection of mixed forests in afforestation plans and forest management on the Loess Plateau.