Abstract: Spatial control of soil and water conservation is an inevitable requirement for the development of soil and water conservation in the new era. Designating spatial control areas for soil and water conservation is a prerequisite for achieving soil erosion control. Currently, research on the division based on different units is relatively weak. This study takes Jinzhai County, Anhui Province as an example and explores the spatial control and zoning schemes for soil and water conservation in the county by taking small watersheds, villages and grids as units respectively. Based on the spatial distribution characteristics and influencing factors of soil erosion in the study area, a corresponding index system was constructed. The self-organizing mapping neural network (SOFM) was used to divide the key areas of soil and water conservation spatial control in different units, and the division results were compared and analyzed through evaluation indicators. The results show that: (1) The average potential soil erosion amount in Jinzhai County is 10,841.95 t/(km²·a), and the average actual soil erosion amount is 211.79 t/(km²·a). The potential high-value areas of soil erosion are mainly concentrated in the low mountain and hilly areas around the two major reservoirs of Meishan and Xianghongdian, while the actual high-value areas of erosion are mainly concentrated in the northeastern and central regions with intense human activities. (2) The influencing factors of soil erosion have significant scale dependence. Altitude, slope, terrain undulation, multi-year average rainfall and the proportion of forest land area are the main influencing factors of potential soil erosion. With the refinement of scale, the importance of terrain undulation weakens, while the role of soil factors intensifies. The proportion of garden area and the intensity of human activities are the main influencing factors of actual soil erosion, and the finer the grid scale, the more prominent the impact of human activities. Due to the differences in the attributes of the controlled units, compared with the village units, the contribution of the multi-year average rainfall to potential soil erosion in the small watershed units has increased, while the contribution of the proportion of garden area has decreased. The importance of altitude in actual erosion has increased.(3) The SOFM model was adopted to divide Jinzhai County into the core prevention area, the general prevention area and other areas. The zoning effect was ideal and the key indicators of each area showed significant differences. Studies show that it is better to carry out zonal and contiguous management based on small watersheds and villages, which is conducive to the comprehensive control and management of soil erosion. Scale refinement can effectively enhance the accuracy of division, but at the same time, it is prone to exacerbate regional fragmentation, increasing the difficulty and cost of governance. Among them, 1000 to 1500 meters is an appropriate grid scale that takes into account both the division accuracy and the feasibility of governance. This study explored the main driving factors of soil erosion and the characteristics of spatial control zones for soil and water conservation in Jinzhai County under multi-scale control units, which can provide a scientific reference for the construction of a multi-scale collaborative control system.