Cadmium (Cd) is characterized as being highly toxic to human health, and its accumulation in plants may exert a health risk for humans through food chain. Phytoextraction is a way for plants to transfer heavy metals from soils to the harvestable parts, which is considered to be an environment-friendly and inexpensive technology for the remediation of metal-contaminated soils. Chelate-induced phytoextraction reduced by organic acids can be used to enhance metal uptake and translocation in plants. To explore the application potential of exogenous organic acids in accelerating Cd accumulation efficiency in Salix variegata Franch., a nutrient culture experiment was conducted to detect the effects of five exogenous organic acids (oxalic acid, citric acid, tartaric acid, malic acid, and succinic acid) with the concentration of 100 μmol/L on the growth adaptability and Cd accumulation of S. variegata under 50 μmol/L Cd stress. The contents of different Cd speciation (free and chelated Cd) in the solution were calculated by the chemical equilibrium program VISUAL MINTEQ v3.0.The results showed that the addition of citric acid, tartaric acid, malic acid, and succinic acid effectively alleviated the toxicity of Cd stress on S. variegata, and significantly improved its growth. Except for the oxalic acid-treated group, the free Cd²⁺ was greatly increased, which significantly promoted the absorption of Cd in S. variegata. The addition of citric acid, tartaric acid, malic acid, and succinic acid significantly increased Cd accumulation rates in S. variegata plants, which were 210%, 190%, 178%, and 190%, respectively compared with that of the CK group. The application of exogenous organic acid increased the content of free Cd²⁺ in the culture and enhanced the ability of plants to absorb and accumulate Cd through complexation with heavy metals. However, the effects of different organic acids on the Cd accumulation characteristics of S. variegata were obvious. The addition of citric acid increased the root biomass and Cd content of roots significantly, whereas the application of tartaric acid, malic acid, and succinic acid increased aboveground Cd accumulation of S. variegata. In summary, the application of exogenous tartaric acid, succinic acid, and malic acid can improve the Cd accumulation efficiency of the aboveground parts of S. variegata, which will be beneficial to the phytoremediation of Cd-contaminated soil.