The Loess Plateau region in China is characterized by a fragile environment, where vegetation is susceptible to both natural variations and anthropogenic influences. Previous research has indicated a greening trend in vegetation across the Loess Plateau over the past two decades. However, the specific contributions of natural and anthropogenic drivers, both individually and interactively, to vegetation distribution remain unclear. To address this gap, we conducted a study using Shaanxi Province as a case area. Utilizing multisource data, we employed the Geographical Detector Model (GDM) to analyze the impacts of natural and human related factors on vegetation distribution. Our analysis revealed that the average NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) increased at a rate of 0.006 per year from 2000 to 2021. Notably, 88.8% of the region experienced vegetation greening, while 4.5% showed significant declines in NDVI, particularly in areas, such as Xi'an, Weinan, Baoji, Hanzhong, and Ankang. Furthermore, NDVI trend projections suggest that the area undergoing vegetation degradation may surpass the area showing improvement in the future. The study identified that vegetation distribution was influenced by both natural and anthropogenic factors for the whole study area. Precipitation, surface types and land use type were the primary factors with q values above 0.5. During the study period, impacts of GDP, nighttime lights and population density among anthropogenic factors on vegetation distribution increased by 130%, 125% and 41%, respectively. Conversely, except for slope and aspect, natural factors' influence on vegetation distribution declined by 5% to 26%. The impact of driving factors on NDVI distribution varied across ecological regions. In Fenwei Basin Agro-Ecoregion (Ecoregion III), the influence of anthropogenic factors on vegetation distribution was greater than that in the other three ecoregions. Precipitation primarily affected the vegetation distribution in Loess Plateau Agricultural and Grassland Ecoregion (Ecoregion II). Additionally, the combined interactive effects of factors had a stronger influence on NDVI distribution than any single factor. These findings provide valuable insights for local governments in Shaanxi Province to develop targeted ecological restoration and environmental management policies.