In order to study the distribution on phosphorus fractions and adsorption-desorption characteristics in surface sediments from Gansu, Ningxia and Inner Mongolia sections of the Yellow River, the methods of standards measurements and testing (SMT) and molybdenum antimony spectrophotometry were chosen to extract phosphorus fractions and measure contents, respectively. The assays of adsorption-desorption characteristics on phosphorus were carried simultaneously. The results were as follows: Compared with the different evaluation criteria, the contents of TP in all sampling sites were in different levels of pollution.Especially at S12 sampling site, a high release risk of phosphorus was existed. There were better positive correlations among TP, IP and HCl-P as well as between OP and NaOH-P. Composition and physicochemical properties of surface sediments had effects on various fractions of phosphorus, OP and NaOH-P were likely to have the same sources of pollution with As, Ni, Co and Pb. The adsorption-desorption processes of phosphorus were in accord with the pseudo-second-order kinetics,which suggested the processes were mainly controlled by chemistry. The isothermal adsorption of phosphorus was also in accord with the Langmuir equation, and the adsorbent contents of phosphorus were incremental with the rise of temperature. When the concentrations of KCl in aqueous phase were less than 0.02 mol·L-1, the adsorption process of phosphorus was predominant; conversely, the desorption process was dominant. The increase of water-soil ratios improved the adsorptive capacity of phosphorus. The rise of temperature and intensity of disturbance would improve desorption of phosphorus. The study revealed the distribution of phosphorus fractions and adsorption-desorption characteristics in surface sediments, providing bases for treatment of water environment and regulation of phosphorus load in Gansu, Ningxia and Inner Mongolia sections of the Yellow River.