Based on the daily meteorological observation data of 68 meteorological stations from 1961 to 2014, daily runoff data of 12 hydrological stations from 1961 to 1989, vegetation data and soil data in the catchment area of Wuxuan Station in the Xijiang River Basin were used to drive VIC hydrological model to calculate the spatial and temporal distribution of hydrological elements, and to construct a standardized Palmer drought index(SPDI)of grid scale. The run theory was used to identify the historical drought events, and the feasibility of SPDI in drought assessment in the Xijiang River Basin was evaluated. Meanwhile, the spatiotemporal feature of historical drought events was analyzed. Results show that SPDI is feasible for drought assessment in the Xijiang River Basin. In the period of 1961-2014, drought frequency and duration in the Xijiang River Basin have an overall increasing trend. The 1960 s, 1980 s and 2000 s are the serious drought years, and the trend of drought in Xijiang River Basin is more obvious since the 21 st century.