Abstract: Huangbai River is an important water source for production, living and agriculture in Yichang City, Hubei Province, but large-scale phosphate mining has seriously affected its water quality. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct real-time monitoring of water quality parameters in the whole basin. Based on landsat8-OLI remote sensing images, according to the actual water quality monitoring data of 14 stations from 2014 to 2016, the artificial neural network was used to establish an inversion model of total phosphorus and ammonia nitrogen in the east tributary of Huangbai River. The total phosphorus and ammonia nitrogen contents in the whole water body of the eastern branch of Huangbai River were analyzed in spring and winter from 2014 to 2016, and the temporal and spatial variation characteristics of total phosphorus and ammonia nitrogen content in the eastern branch of Huangbai River were analyzed. The results showed that: ① For landsat8-OLI remote sensing data, the sensitive bands of total phosphorus were 4~7, and the artificial neural network inversion model established by sensitive bands had high accuracy, and the evaluation indexes of Nash coefficient and mean square error coefficient were 0.9774 and 0.0064, respectively; the ammonia nitrogen sensitive band were 1~3 band, the accuracy of the established model was lower than that of total phosphorus, and the Nash coefficient and mean square error coefficient of the evaluation indicators were 0.7145 and 0.0045, respectively. ② The total phosphorus content in the eastern tributary of Huangbai River showed a fluctuating downward trend in general from 2014 to 2016, however higher total phosphorus content were at Tianfumiao and Xuanmiaoguan Reservoir respectively. The overall ammonia nitrogen content increased slightly. In December 2015, the ammonia nitrogen content in the Shangjiahe Reservoir and Xibeikou Reservoir area reached 0.22 mg/L and 0.27 mg/L. ③ The total phosphorus content in the east tributary of Huangbai River was the highest in spring, and the ammonia nitrogen content was the highest in winter. ④ The spatial distribution of total phosphorus and ammonia nitrogen in Huangbai River Basin was different to some extent. The content of total phosphorus was relatively high in Shangjiahe, Tianfumiao and Xuanmiaoguan Reservoir areas, and the content of ammonia nitrogen was relatively high in Xuanmiaoguan and Xibeikou Reservoir areas. The research results can provide basis for the water environment management of the basin.