Abstract: Water deficiency is the main limiting factor for crop growth in dry-farming areas. Many studies and practices have demonstrated that, mulching tillage can improve the soil microclimate, and significantly increase the yield and water use efficiency of crops. In order to explore the effects of different ground surface methods combined with subsoiling tillage on soil physical characteristics, potato growth, yield and water use efficiency, field fixed position experiment was conducted to study the effect of mulching tillage on soil volume quality, aggregate, water, potato yield and water use efficiency in arid areas of southern Ningxia between 2013 and 2015. The field experiment consisted of the following 4 treatments: straw mulch with subsoiling tillage (ST+JM), plastic film mulch with subsoiling tillage (ST+DM), no mulch with subsoiling tillage (ST), and no mulch with conventional tillage (CT). The no mulch with conventional tillage was used as the control. Our study results showed that, the soil volume quality of the 0-40 cm soil layer under subsoiling combined with mulch was effectively decreased compared with conventional tillage, while the soil total porosity was greatly improved, and especially the straw mulch with subsoiling treatment was the best. During the study, the mean soil volume quality (0-40 cm) under straw mulch with subsoiling treatment was significantly (P<0.05) decreased by 17.1% when compared with the conventional tillage treatment. Our study found that, the subsoiling with ground surface mulch produced signi?cantly higher amounts of >0.25 mm elastic-stable macroaggregates in the 0-40 cm soil layer compared with conventional tillage. The amounts of >0.25 mm aggregates (0-40 cm) under straw mulch with subsoiling and plastic film mulch with subsoiling treatments were signi?cantly (P<0.05) increased by 30.7% and 17.4% respectively compared with the conventional tillage treatment. Subsoiling combined with ground surface mulch greatly improved soil water storage in the 0-200 cm soil layer during the growing stage of potato. The straw mulch with subsoiling and plastic film mulch with subsoiling treatments had the best effect on water conservation; the soil water storage in the 0-200 cm soil layer under the plastic film mulch with subsoiling treatment was significantly higher than the conventional tillage treatment at the early stage of potato, while the straw mulch with subsoiling treatment could significantly improve the soil water content (0-200 cm) in the later growth period. The application of mulching tillage significantly promoted the growth of potato, and the plant height, stem diameter and aboveground biomass of potato under the different ground surface mulching methods with subsoiling were significantly higher than the conventional tillage treatment. The plastic film mulch with subsoiling treatment significantly promoted the growth of potato in the early stage, and the straw mulch with subsoiling treatment significantly promoted the growth of potato in the later growth period. Higher yield and water use efficiency improvement were also achieved under different ground surface mulching methods with subsoiling. The potato yield, commodity rate and water use efficiency under the straw mulch with subsoiling treatment were significantly (P<0.05) increased by 37.3%, 93.3% and 41.2%, respectively, when compared with the conventional tillage treatment. For the plot experiments in 2 years, the ground surface mulch with subsoiling measure can not only effectively decrease soil volume quality, but also significantly improve soil structure, and shows the better soil water conservation ability, therefore promoting the growth of potato; and the straw mulch with subsoiling treatment significantly increases potato yield and water use efficiency in the arid areas of southern Ningxia.