To explore effects of tillage on soil physical and chemical properties and yield of winter wheat in semi-arid South Ningxia, a 3-year field experiment was carried out from 2007 to 2010. The experiment was designed to have three tillage patterns, i.e. non-tillage (NT)/subsoiling (ST)/non-tillage (NT), ST/NT/ST and conventional tillage (CT) as control and soil bulk densities, aggregates, soil nutrients and yields of winter wheat of the three treatments were determined separately. Results show that compared with CT, treatments NT/ST/NT and ST/NT/ST significantly ( p < 0.05) decreased soil bulk density, improved soil total porosity and significantly p < 0.05) increased the amount of 2～0.25 mm water-aggregates. Treatment ST/NT/ST was the most effective in increasing soil organic matter (in 0～40 cm soil layer) and total N (0～20 cm) among the three; compared with CT, treatments NT/ST/NT and ST/NT/ST significantly (p < 0.05) increased alkalyzable-N (0～40 cm), available P (0～40 cm) and available K ( 20～40 cm), and improved soil nutrient status. Treatments NT/ST/NT and ST/NT/ST also significantly increased wheat yield. Their three-year mean grain yield was (p <0.05) 9.59% and 10.69% higher than that of the control. Obviously, treatment ST/NT/ST is better than treatment NT/ST/NT in yield raising.