Context and Objective: Continuous cropping and high nitrogen fertilizer usually result in low nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) of crop production, underscoring the urgent need for optimized agronomic strategies in arid irrigated areas. In view of the advantage of crop rotation and optimal nitrogen application for improving nitrogen fertilizer efficiency, optimizing cropping pattern and nitrogen management simultaneously is a practical way to enhance NUE. Methods: From 2022-2024, following a preceding crop of plastic-mulched maize, a split plot experiment was established in arid land area, no-tillage rotation wheat (NTRW), conventional tillage rotation wheat (CTRW) as well as continuous wheat (CTCW) as the main area, 225 kg ha(-1) (N1, traditional) and 180 kg ha(-1) (N2, 20% reduction) as the sub-plot. Results and Conclusions: NUE decreased after nitrogen reduction, whereas rotation weakened the adverse effects of reduced nitrogen, and no-tillage further strengthened this advantage. A 20% nitrogen reduction reduced NUE by 2.2%. Under CTRW, NUE increased by 3.8% relative to CTCW, with NTRW further increased by 3.7% relative to CTRW. Compared with CTCWN1, NUE increased by 2.7%-5.3%, thereby increasing GY by 6.7%-24.4%. Nitrogen reduction decreased the nitrogen accumulation (NA), nitrogen contribution to grains (SNTCP) but mitigated the risk of soil nitrate nitrogen leaching. In contrast, rotation and no-tillage primarily enhanced nitrogen accumulation during the reproductive stage and mitigated the negative impact of nitrogen reduction on the source-sink remobilization of nitrogen, ultimately affecting nitrogen harvest index (NHI). Furthermore, particularly following fertilization, deep-layer nitrate nitrogen content was significantly reduced, and the inhibitory effect strengthened with increasing rotation duration. The rotation system maintained a favorable nitrogen supply for crops within the 0-50 cm soil layer even with reduced nitrogen, and the combination with no-till further enhanced soil nitrogen retention capacity. The decline in nitrate reductase and glutamine synthetase activities under 20% reduced nitrogen was offset by rotation and no-till, with the most significant effects observed at the flowering stage. Random forest model revealed the improvement of NUE was primarily due to increased flag leaf nitrate reductase activity and stem nitrogen translocation rate, while reducing the risk of deep soil nitrogen leaching. In arid land irrigation areas, no-tillage rotation of wheat with maize covered by mulch is an effective measure for utilization of nitrogen and reduce the risk of nitrogen leaching in deep soil. Significance: This study demonstrates no-tillage rotation serve as an effective measure to synergistically improve nitrogen utilization and mitigate leaching loss under reduced nitrogen input in arid regions.