Tillage practices can disturb the soil surface, create a porous, loose, and erosion-prone top layer, and may thereby influence soil erodibility and crop yield. However, few studies have investigated the impact of tillage practices on soil erodibility and crop yield in wind-water erosion crisscross areas where soil erosion is much more severe than the areas only controlled by wind or rainfall. To address this issue, this study quantifies the impact of seven tillage treatments (two conventional tillage of rotary tillage (RTS) and plow-tillage (PTS) with 100 % harvest maize stover mulching, and five conservation tillage of subsoiling +100 % mulching (STS), no-tillage +30 % (NTS1) and 100 % (NTS) mulching, and no-tillage & ridging +30 % (NTSR1) and 60 % (NTSR2) mulching) on soil erodibility in the wind-water erosion crisscross region of China. Multiple soil erodibility indicators, including soil penetration resistance, cohesion, organic matter content, K factor, relative slaking index, relative mechanical breakdown index, and aggregate stability index were measured to calculate the comprehensive soil erodibility index (CSEI). Results showed that significant differences in the CSEI were observed between different tillage treatment. In the 0-20 cm soil depth, the CSEI of the STS, NTS1, NTSR1, NTSR2, and NTS treatments were 67 %, 56 %, 31 %, 15 %, and 71 % lower than that of the PTS, respectively. The soil texture was the main factor affecting the CSEI variability, and the CSEI was significantly negatively correlated with maize yield (P < 0.01). Thus, STS maybe the optimal practice for both controlling soil erosion and maintaining crop yield in wind-water erosion crisscross area of China.