In order to deeply explore the influence of slope vegetation distribution on the process of sediment and runoff yield, and quantitatively analyze the relationship between vegetation distribution and sediment and runoff yield on slope, through artificial rainfall test, under the condition of 15° slope, the sediment and runoff yield process were observed under the conditions of different vegetation coverages (40% and 60%), different rainfall intensities (30, 60 and 90 mm/h) and different vegetation distribution positions (relative distance 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0). The effects of soil and water conservation under different vegetation distribution conditions was analyzed, and the optimal vegetation allocation for controlling soil and water loss under different vegetation coverages was proposed. The results showed that:(1) Under a certain slope and rainfall intensity, the runoff and sediment yield increased rapidly at first and then tended to be stable under different vegetation distribution conditions. (2) In this study, the average runoff and sediment yield firstly decreased and then increased with the increasing of the relative distance. The average runoff yield of the slope with the relative distance of 0.2 was the minimum under different experimental conditions. (3) The random forest algorithm showed that rainfall intensity and vegetation coverage had important impact on runoff yield, and rainfall intensity and vegetation relative distance had important impact on sediment yield. (4) When the vegetation coverage was 40%, the optimal vegetation relative positions were 0 to 0.36 and 0 to 0.31, respectively, with the main objective of reducing runoff and sediment. When the vegetation coverage was 60%, the optimal relative vegetation positions were 0 to 0.43 and 0 to 0.22, respectively, with the main goal of reducing runoff and sediment. This study showed that slope vegetation distribution had an important impact on sediment yield and runoff. Under the same vegetation coverage, the smaller the relative distance of the grass belt was, the better the effect of reducing runoff and sediment. The research results could provide theoretical basis and data support for optimal allocation of vegetation in the process of ecological restoration.