River sediment contains large amounts of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, and it has the potential to be exploited as potting media. In this experiment, potting media were made by river sediment, vermicompost and vermiculite in order to investigate the feasibility of the river sediment as raw materials for potting media. And effects of the potting media on tomato seedlings were studied in a greenhouse. The results showed that, compared with commercially nursery media, the potting media produced by river sediment significantly increased the leaf number, leaf chlorophyll, root diameter and shoot fresh weight, but significantly reduced the root length and root fresh weight of the tomato seedlings. There was no significant difference in the shoot height, stem diameter, root surface area, root volume, root activity, root dry weight, shoot dry weight and strong seedling index. The tomato seedling growth indexes, including the stem diameter, root diameter, root fresh weight, leaf fresh weight, root dry weight, leaf dry weight and strong seedling index, were significantly higher when growing in the potting media made by the river sediment and vermicompost in the volume ratio of 8∶1 than 4∶1. The tomato seedling growth index, including the shoot height, root length, root surface area, root fresh weight, shoot fresh weight, root dry weigh and strong seedling index, were significantly higher when growing in the potting media made by the river sediment and vermiculite in the volume ratio of 4∶1 than 8∶1. There were no significant differences on the tomato seedling growth among the potting media made by the river sediment, vermicompost and vermiculite in the volume ratio of 8∶1∶1, and by the river sediment and vermicompost or vermiculite in the volume ratio of 4∶1. In short, river sediment could be used as raw material for potting media for tomato seedling nursery. It was more conducive to the development of tomato seedlings that the potting media made by the river sediment and vermicompost in the volume ratio of 8∶1, and river sediment and vermiculite in the volume ratio of 4∶1.