An experiment was carried out to investigate the effects of fertilization on cotton nutrient absorption, distribution, fertilizer use efficiency, yield and economic benefits in fields with drip irrigation. The results showed that, compared with farmers′ practice treatment , total amount of nutrient uptake, distribution in reproductive organs and fertilizer use efficiency in the balanced fertilization treatment (OPT) were all increased in varying degrees. Nitrogen and phosphorus use efficiency were increased by 29.5 and 10.8 percentage points, and the agronomy efficiency was increased by 0.4 and 0.7 kg·kg-1. The cotton yield and economic benefits were increased by 4.5% and 774 yuan·hm-2. The cotton yield limiting factor for the area was nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in turn in the study area, and the application rate of fertilizer of OPT was more reasonable than that of FP.