Vegetation has good function of soil and water conservation. Careful understanding the relationship between the structural characteristics of vegetation and the production of runoff is the basis for studying the erosion control function of vegetation. In this paper, the effects of five vegetation structures (shrubs, herbs, litter, shrubs + herbs, shrubs + herbs + litter) and erosive rainfall (60, 90, 120 mm/h) on the process of erosion were investigated by artificial simulated rainfall experiments with typical forest vegetation in Central Hubei. The results showed that: (1) The runoff and sediment yield increased rapidly at first, then increased slowly with the rainfall time, and finally reach a stable trend. Rainfall intensity was the dominant factor of slope erosion and sand production, and showed a significant positive correlation with flow production time, flow production rate and sand production rate (p < 0.01). (2) With or without litter, vegetation coverage and plant density were the main factors affecting runoff and sediment yield on the slope. The sediment concentration of runoff under different covering structures was as follows: herb > shrub > litter > herb+shrub > shrub and grass withered. (3) The priority of structural characteristic parameters on runoff and sediment yield was: coverage, biomass, plant density, diversity index, that was, horizontal structure > vertical structure > species composition > spatial pattern. The results of the study aim to reveal the mechanism of the role of vegetation structure on slope erosion, and provide scientific reference for the construction of soil erosion models in southern woodlands.