With increased awareness of the importance of land use change at both local and regional scales within watershed-based planning, the study of land use analysis has become the focus of several international scientific endeavors. Since land use change has become a major issue in this century due to global urbanization, the study of watershed-based land use analysis will play an important role in a sustainable future. This paper undertakes a comprehensive review of watershed-based land use analysis to clarify the research trends in this area, including basic tools, factors, methodologies, study regions, scales and areas. Land use detection methods, land use modeling and thresholds in watershed delineation were identified as the fundamental tools, while land use policies, water quality, surface runoff, flooding control, land use suitability and land allocation analysis, and landscape structure were identified as the main factors in watershed-based land use planning.