Studied the load-bearing characteristic of reinforced and non-reinforced gravel cushions on soft soil through model tests. Analyzed the effects of cushion thickness, reinforced materials, number of reinforcement layers and location of reinforced-materials on the bearing characteristic of the cushion. The results show that: The reasonable thickness of cushion can effectively reduce the settlement of the foundation and the effect of reinforced gravel cushion is more obvious, and under the same condition, the effect of geocells is better than that of geogrids. Number of reinforcement layers and location of reinforced materials have impact on the load-bearing characteristics of the reinforced gravel cushion. The reinforcement layer number is more and the reinforced effect is better. The effect is best as the reinforced materials is laid at the bottom of the cushion. Adding cushion can improve the coefficient of subgrade reaction and the effect of geocell reinforced gravel cushion is best to improve the coefficient.