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Comprehending the spatiotemporal dynamics and driving factors of small and micro wetlands (SMWs) holds paramount significance in their conservation and sustainable development. This paper investigated the spatiotemporal evolution and driving mechanisms of SMWs in the Yellow River Basin, utilizing buffer zones, overlay analysis, and the Geodetector model based on Landsat satellite images and an open-surface water body dataset from 1990 to 2020. The results revealed that (1) from 1990 to 2020, SMWs in the Yellow River Basin exhibited an overall pattern of fluctuation reduction. The total area decreased by approximately 1.12 × 105 hm2, with the predominant decline occurring in the 0–1 hm2 and 1–3 hm2 size categories. In terms of spatial distribution, SMWs in Qinghai and Gansu decreased significantly, while the SMWs in Inner Mongolia, Henan, and Shandong gradually increased. (2) From 1990 to 2020, SMWs were mostly converted into grassland and cropland, with some transformed into impervious water surface and barren, and only a small percentage converted into other land types in the Yellow River basin. (3) The alterations in SMWs were influenced by factors, with their interplay exhibiting nonlinear or bilinear enhancement. Among these factors, annual precipitation, elevation, and potential evapotranspiration were the primary natural factors influencing the changes in the distribution of SMWs. On the other hand, land use cover type, gross domestic product (GDP), and road distance were the main anthropogenic factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]