Accurate knowledge of the relationship between modern vegetation and the corresponding surface pollen assemblages is the key to the quantitative reconstruction of paleovegetation and paleoclimate. The pollen assemblages of steppe regions are affected by many factors and distinguishing the pollen assemblages of different plant community types, especially Artemisia and Poaceae communities is a major difficulty in modern pollen studies in these regions. In this study we used RDA analysis to analyze modern vegetation and pollen percentage data from 119 sampling sites in different plant communities in the Bashang region of North China, which has a typical steppe vegetation. We used the results to quantitatively determine the distinguishing features of various plant community types and the relationship between the percentages of the dominant pollen types and the corresponding vegetation cover. The major results are as follows: 1) there is a clear distinction between Artemisia and Poaceae communities; in the Artemisia community, Artemisia pollen percentages are typically > 50%, and Poaceae pollen percentages are typically < 3%. In the Poaceae community, Poaceae pollen percentages are typically > 3%, and Artemisia pollen percentages are typically < 40%. 2) The Artemisia, Chenopodiaceae, Poaceae and Asteraceae are the most common vegetation types and their pollen percentages are the four most abundant types in the pollen assemblages. Their respective pollen percentages and vegetation cover show varying degrees of correlation and representativeness. Artemisia and Chenopodiaceae pollen are over-represented; that is, when the vegetation cover of Artemisia and Chenopodiaceae is < 5%, or even zero %, Artemisia and Chenopodiaceae pollen percentages can still reach 30–40%. By contrast, Poaceae and Asteraceae are under-represented in the pollen assemblages, and even where they have a high vegetation cover, their pollen percentages are rarely > 10%.