Clarifying the relationship between habitat use of waterbirds and environmental factors contributes to making conservation strategies. In order to understand the use of waterbirds on artificial wetlands and factors affecting their habitat use, we surveyed waterbird species and numbers and six environmental factors (including vegetation area, ratio of bare land area, water depth, topographic variation, habitat structural diversity, and human disturbance) in the wetland restoration area at Chongming Dongtan in the winter of 2012-2013. A total of 9 018 individuals in 24 species were recorded during 12 surveys. Spot-billed Duck (Anas poecilorhyncha) and Mallard (A.platyrhynchos) were the dominant species, accounting for 47.5 and 32.7% of total individual numbers, respectively. Rest behavior was recorded in 79.2% of total individuals, suggesting the wetland restoration area provided roosting sites for most waterbirds. Moreover, over 60% of individuals showed foraging behavior in Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis), Coot (Fulica atra), Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus), Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia), and Black-faced Spoonbill (P.minor). Stepwise regression analysis indicated the proportion of bare land area is the main factor affecting the species numbers of waterbirds; although waterfowl preferred plots with large topographic variation and low cover of vegetation, they stayed in plots with high proportion of bare land area. For the waders, they preferred to rest in plots with large topographic variation. To increase waterbird diversity in the wetland restoration area, we suggested to improve the food conditions for waterbirds, such as planting more submerged plants, and to increase the topographic variation and the proportion of bare land area.