In order to understand the propagation law from meteorological drought to hydrological drought in the Tarim River Basin under the impact of human activities, the variation characteristics of meteorological and hydrological drought were analyzed based on the standardized precipitation index (SPI) and streamflow drought index (SDI), and the impact of human activities on the propagation law from meteorological drought to hydrological drought was discussed. The results show that the meteorological and hydrological drought in the source region both show a weakening trend. While in the mainstream region, the meteorological drought shows a weakening trend and the hydrological drought is the opposite. As the time scale increases, the drought duration increases. After being affected by human activities (after 1993), the occurrence frequency of meteorological and hydrological drought in the source region as well as the meteorological drought in the mainstream region all decrease only with the occurrence frequency of hydrological drought in the mainstream region increasing. After being affected by human activities, the propagation time from meteorological drought to hydrological drought in different seasons in the source region becomes longer, but the drought propagation time in the mainstream region is shortened except in spring. The extension of drought propagation time in the source region is related to climate change, while the shortened drought propagation time in the mainstream region is mainly affected by human activities.