The present invention relates to the technical field of maize cultivation and in particular to a dryland farming and water-saving cultivation method for maize in an arid cropland in loess plateau. Rotary tillage, drip irrigation tape laying, film mulching and seeding integrated operation is adopted, a narrow line is 40 cm wide, a wide line is 60 cm wide, ridges are formed in the wide row, a drip irrigation tape is laid, the ridges serve as rain collecting regions, furrows serve as planting regions, the slopes of the rain collecting ridges are 35 DEG, and the ridges are 30 cm high and are disposed in an east and west direction; mechanical hole sowing is performed, a degradable water-absorbing fiber ball is buried in each of front, rear, left and right sides of each hole, the hole spacing iskept at 24-27 cm, the sowing depth is kept at 3-4 cm, the line spacing in the furrows is kept at 40 cm, and the planting density is kept at 5000-5500 per mu; and the total ground is covered with a plastic film with the width of 120 cm and the thickness of 0.08 mm, the edge of the plastic film is fixed and pressed with soil so that the plastic film is prevented from being damaged by wind, film mulching is kept for 10 d, a mulching film clings to the ground or perforation is performed every other 50 cm in the furrows after rainfall. By using the dryland farming and water-saving cultivation method, the emergence rate and survival rate of seedlings may be increased, and meanwhile, the utilization efficiency of water may be remarkably increased.