Abstract: Experimental study on the drag reduction and the anti-shearing characteristics of xanthan gum(XG) solution with NaCl addition in smooth pipes with diameter of 20mm was conducted. For different mass fractions of XG solution with NaCl addition(XG/NaCl solution), the relationships of the drag reduction efficiency with the flow Reynolds number and the shearing duration time were obtained and compared with the drag reduction and anti-shearing characteristics of XG solution. The results show that the drag reduction percentage of XG/NaCl solution tends to stabilize rapidly with increasing Reynolds number, and it is lower than that of the XG aqueous solution in the low Reynolds number regime, but significantly higher than that of XG aqueous solution in high Reynolds number regime. There exists a best ratio of XG to NaCl for the drag reduction. The XG/NaCl solution has good temperature resistance. In the process of continuous shearing of pump, different mass fractions of XG/NaCl solution all have high resistance to the mechanical degradation.