The main purpose of this study was to treat organic pollutants, nitrogen and phosphorus in polluted river water by the use of constructed wetland (CW) systems. A laboratory experiment research was conducted on subsurface flow constructed wetland systems operated in vertical flow (VF) and horizontal flow (HF) mode. The systems were unplanted and hydraulic retention times were identically 2.7 days. The average removal efficiencies for HFCW and VFCW were NH+ 4-N 64.9% and 75.2%, NO- 3-N 92.3% and 40.1%, COD 97.5% and 90.1%, TP 94.6% and 96.2%, respectively. The removal of NH+ 4-N and NO- 3-N in the different CW units were in order of VFCW (drained) > VFCW (flooded) > HFCW and HFCW > VFCW (flooded) > VFCW (drained), respectively. When the water level in the VFCW was changed, an obvious fluctuation of the effluent NH+ 4-N and NO- 3-N concentrations was observed.