To correctly assess the soil quality of cultivated layer for Aeolian sandysoil，the clustering analysis method was used to establishthe minimum data set(MDS)for quality diagnosis of Aeolian sandy soil of northeastChina.The effect of tillage on cultivated layerquality for Aeolian sandy soil of northeast China was assessed with tilth index of MDS(TI -MDS).All these will provide scientificevidences for selecting tillage strategies in Aeolian sandy soil.A field experiment was set up at the first grain farm in DuerbertMongolian AutonomousCounty，Heilongjiang Province，in2017.Three fertilization treatments were chemical fertilizer，straw returnand organic manure.Conventionaltillage，rotarytillage，tillage，deep tillage and ultra -deep tillage were carried out at the experimentplots.At maize harvesttime，pH，organicmatter，availableN，P andK，totalN，P andK，CEC，mean weight diameter(MWD)，bulkdensity，hardness，watercontent，field water capacity and soil porosity weremeasured.Results showed the correlation coefficient between total tilth index(TI-TDS)and TI -MDS was0.928， Efof Nash was0.761， Er was0.079.TI -MDS ranged from 0.26 to0.85，which was positive related to maizeyield，indicated that TI -MDS might quantitative assess soilquality.The TI was Ⅱ，Ⅲand Ⅲlevelin organicmanure，straw return and chemical fertilizertreatments，respectively.This suggested that organic manure was an effectivestrategy to construct cultivated layer in Aeolian sandysoil，but not very good for strawreturn.The greatest TI(0.85，Ilevel) was observedin organic manure associated withtillage.Deep tillage with straw return and ultra -deep tillage with chemical fertilizer decreased soilquality，and TI was Ⅳlevel.All these indicated that organic manure application associated with tillage was benefit to constructcultivated layer in Aeolian sandysoil.The effect of tillage on soil quality of cultivated layer in Aeolian sandy soil could be effectivelyassessed with MDS based on clusteringanalysis.