Genetic markers are still in need for the improvement of meat quality in beef industry.To explore the distribution and genetic effect of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of four candidate genes (CAPN1,CAST, GHR and SCD1) on five meat quality traits in a Chinese Simmental beef population and three Chinese native cattle breeds, 367 Simmentals were genotyped using PCR-SSCP and the data were processed by SPSS software.Results showed that six SNPs were identified and genotyped in the four cattle breeds, which include132 samples from the Chinese Simmental population.SNPs of CAPN1 A4558G/C4684T, GHR T229C and SCD1 C878T were significantly associated with meat shearing force value, and SNPs of SCD1 had genetic effect on Intramuscular fat (IMF) trait and fat color score (FCS), SNPs of CAPN1 A4558G and GHR T229C associated significantly with beef marbling score (BMS).Gene combination analysis showed that haplotype 1and haplotype 2 out of possible seven types were valuable for IMF, SFV and MSC traits in Chinese Simmental.The frequency of favorable allele (CAPN1 4558 G/4684T and SCD1 878C) were significantly higher in Chinese Simmental than that in Chinese southern cattle (Leiqiong, Yunnan High pump or BMY Cattle).These findings demonstrated that SNPs of CAPN1 and SCD1 were prospect genetic markers for meat quality traits in beef cattle