Abstract: This paper was designed to compile the piece wise figures of deserts and their types in Xinjiang and to analyze the spatial distribution and structure of the deserts in Xinjiang based on the digital geomorphologic map (1∶1 000 000) and TM image data using Google Earth or GIS. The results were as follows: ① There are 577 desert fragments in Xinjiang, and they can be divided into 35 subareas. The deserts can be divided into six areas, i.e. the desert area in the Tarim Basin, desert area in the Junggar Basin, desert area in the Altay Mountains, west Junggar mountainous desert area, the Kunlun MountainAltun Mountain desert area, and Tianshan Mountain desert area; ② Area of the deserts in Xinjiang is 428 977.14 km2 and occupies a quarter (26.12%) of the total area of Xinjiang. Deserts are distributed widely in the plains, hilly regions and mountains. Spatially, the deserts are mainly distributed in the Tarim Basin and Junggar Basin. There is an obvious spatial heterogeneity of desert landscapes. The fragmentation degree of desert landscapes is high in the two large deserts in the Tarim Basin and Junggar Basin, and it is low in the two large basins but high in the mountainbasin ecotone; ③ There are the peculiar landforms dominated by dunes, longitudinal dunes, dunechains and sand ridges in Xinjiang, and the desert vegetation coverage is low.