Soil saturated hydraulic conductivity (K_s) is an important parameter reflecting soil infiltration performance and soil water holding capacity. Understanding the spatial distribution characteristics and influencing factors of soil K_s at the watershed scale is helpful to better comprehend soil hydrological processes and regulation mechanisms. Totally 70 soil samples were collected from different land use patterns in the horizontal gradients (upstream, midstream, downstream) of the Zhujiachuan watershed in the Loess Hilly Region of Northwestern Shanxi. The soil K_s was determined by constant-head method, the topographical factors and physical and chemical properties of the sample points were also measured to establish partial least-squares regression model of soil K_s, and then the main factors affecting the spatial distribution pattern of soil K_s were analyzed. The study showed that: (1) Soil bulk density and sand content showed a weak variation, but the other physical and chemical properties showed the moderate variations. The soil K_s performance in the horizontal gradients was upstream > midstream > downstream; (2) Soil K_s varied greatly with different land uses (P<0.05), the sequence was forest land > agricultural land > grassland; (3) Forest land (VIP=1.997), grassland (VIP=1.710), soil bulk density (VIP=1.548), soil organic content (VIP=1.323), macro-aggregates (VIP=1.266), silt content (VIP=1.062) and clay content (VIP=1.049) were the main factors influencing soil K_s, among which the use of forest land gave the greatest impact. Land use, soil properties and topographical factors were the main factors affecting the spatial distribution of soil K_s in the Loess Hilly Region and could be used to simulate and predict the spatial distribution of soil K_s.