Abstract: Nine pharmaceuticals including of azithromycin (AZM), sulfathiazole (STZ), ibuprofen (IBU), diclofenac (DCF), paracetamol (PRC), atenolol (ATL), clofibric acid (CLF), carbamazepine (CBM) and caffeine (CAF), were selected as the target compounds in this study. They were analyzed with high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometer (HPLC-MS/MS). Variation characteristics of WWMPs in different media (aqueous phases, sedimentary phase and plants) and the removal of conventional indicators (chemical oxygen demand (COD_Cr), ammonia nitrogen (NH₃-N), total phosphorus (TP) and total nitrogen (TN) by the artificial ecosystems in the indoor river simulation system were explored. The artificial ecosystems were constructed with 3 combinations of emergent aquatic plants (C. alternifolius and J. effusus, J. effusus and A. calamus, C. alternifolius and A. calamus). The actual removal efficiencies of the target pharmaceuticals by the ecosystem were also calculated by means of material balance. The results showed that the effects of 3 combined plant ecosystems on the removal of 4 conventional indicators were quite significant. The removal efficiencies were 39.7%-47.8%, 88.2%-99.4%, 39.1%-58.1%, and 49.1%-58.5% for COD_Cr, NH₃-N, TP and TN, respectively. Compared with no-plant ecosystem, the ecosystems with aquatic plants had obvious removal effects on the removal of the pharmaceuticals, especially CBM, IBU, ATL and PRC in the aqueous phases, the largest removal rates were more than 54.0%. The ecosystem constructed by the combination of C. alternifolius and A. calamus. had a better removal effect on CAF, CBM, CLF, DCF, IBU and STZ in aqueous phase than the ecosystem constructed by single plants with 51.6% to 87.7% reduction. In the artificial ecosystem constructed by 3 kinds of combined plants, the removal effects of WWMPs in sediment phase were weakened orderly as J. effusus and A. calamus, C. alternifolius and A. calamus, C. alternifolius, J. effusus. The absorption effects of aquatic plants on WWMPs in the artificial ecosystem were also different and the absorption effects were ranked as CBM > CLF > CAF > IBU > DCF > ATL > PRC > AZM > STZ. In terms of total removal rate, the removal efficiencies of WWMPs in sediment phase in 3 combined ecosystems were the same as those in aqueous phase. This investigation indicated that combined plant artificial ecosystems could effectively remove WWMPs and the conventional indicators in urban rivers, and could be an effective way of improving water quality in urban rivers.