Vegetation in arid/semiarid areas in the northern hemisphere is highly sensitive to precipitation variability. Understanding the change of dryland vegetation and its response to spatiotemporal patterns of precipitation changes is critical to delve impacts of meteorological droughts on dryland vegetation. Based on the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and precipitation data, we delineated the spatiotemporal pattern of trends of the arid/semiarid plant growth and its responses to daily precipitation changes in the northern Xinjiang. The results indicated several regular characteristics in the NDVI responses to precipitation at unequal time and spatial scales during the growing season, i.e. April-October. It identified shortening time lags of NDVI responses to precipitation over time. This study found for the first time that precipitation changes tend to impact NDVI changes given dry period length (DL) of > 18 days, and the effect of precipitation process was more significant. Three temporal distribution types of a precipitation process were classified, i.e. A-type or B-type precipitation process, which are characterized by two consecutive rainfall days with less or larger precipitation amount on the first day than the next day, and C-type precipitation process, which is characterized by three or more consecutive rainfall days. A- and B-type precipitation processes can benefit availability of moisture in the medium and early stage of the growing season respectively. Precipitation of 6.1–12.0 mm is the most favorable condition for the growth of desert vegetation. This study highlights multifarious vegetation responses to different precipitation processes and provides theoretical ground for ecological restoration and conservation in a changing environment across northern Xinjiang, China, and also in drylands in other regions of the globe.