[Objective] To fully demonstrate the bacterial diversity in radiation polluted soils from the Northwestern China, and investigate effects of radiation pollution on the bacterial community. [Methods] composition and structure of bacterial communities in soils from the control of no radiation pollution and the radiation contaminated in different levels was analyzed based on high-throughput sequencing of the V3 region of the 16S rRNA gene. [Results] A total of 110 348 effective sequences and 17 604 OTUs were obtained, which were classified into 726 genera from 19 phyla and others including 6 candidate phyla and the unclassified in bacteria domain. The result of diversity analysis showed that the radiation pollution resulted in significant change in bacterial community in soils, and led to the improvement of bacterial diversity and richness. The analysis of bacterial composition indicated percent rates of bacteria from phylum Proteobacteria decreased significantly under the radiation stress, while the Actinobacteria increased gradually with the improvement in radiation levels. The proportion of the unclassified, Firmicutes and Acidobacteria rise obviously. Additionally, lots of unclassified genera exist in radiation pollution soils. [Conclusion] it proved extremely rich bacterial diversity in radiation contaminated area and a lot of novel microbial resources which need to further discover.