Straw returning plus nitrogen fertilizer is one of the important measures to solve the problems of plough role getting shallow and solid with reduced effective soil, having a vital significance in dryland agriculture production. In the present study, a field experiment was conducted at Tieling city of Liaoning province in 2014-2015 with six treatments(0 kg ha–1 of straw plus 0 kg ha–1 of pure NPK, S0F0; 9000 kg ha–1 of straw plus 0 kg ha–1 of pure N, 112.5 kg ha–1 of pure P, and 90 kg ha–1 of pure K, SN0; 9000 kg ha–1 of straw, 112.5 kg ha–1 of pure N plus 112.5 kg ha–1 of pure P, and 90 kg ha–1 of pure K, SN1; 0 kg ha–1 of straw plus 225 kg ha–1 of pure N, 112.5 kg ha–1 of pure P, 90 kg ha–1 of pure K, S0N2; 9000 kg ha–1 of straw plus 225 kg ha–1 of pure N, 112.5 kg ha–1 of pure P, 90 kg ha–1 of pure K, SN2; 9000 kg ha–1 of straw plus 337.5 kg ha–1 of pure N, 112.5 kg ha–1 of pure P, 90 kg ha–1 of pure K, SN3). The yield of straw 9000 kg ha–1 plus nitrogen 225 kg ha–1 treatment was the highest, with an average increase of 6.33% in two years, and compared with no straw returning plus nitrogen 225 kg ha–1 treatment which was mainly due to the significant increase of weight of 100-kernel and number of kernels per row and the decrease of bare top length. The yield did not increase with the increase of nitrogen application rates. Under the same nitrogen application rate, the average population biomass of straw returning treatment was increased by 2.95% compared with no straw returning. Straw returning plus nitrogen fertilizer increased the plant height, stem diameter, leaf area, SPAD and photosynthesis of maize, and under the same nitrogen application rate, compared with no straw returning, the leaf area and photosynthetic rate at filling stage were increased on an average of 2.71% and 4.80% in two years, respectively. In conclusion, 9000 kg ha–1 of straw returning plus 225 kg ha–1 of nitrogen fertilizer is an ideal mode in brown soil area of the northern Liaoning province, which has certain application value in this regional agricultural development.