To investigate the impact of urban underlying surface and low impact development (LID) facilities on surface runoff, a case study of a typical area in West Lake District of Hangzhou was carried out with storm water management model (SWMM). The applicability of surface runoff and LID facilities to the underlying surface of the study area was simulated under short-term rainstorm scenarios. The results show that LID facilities can significantly reduce the peak runoff during the 3-year return period rainfall, but the effect weakens with the increase of rainfall intensity (a decrease of 5-20% for the 10-year return period, and a further decrease of 15-25% for the 50-year return period). Under the 3-year return period rainfall, the peak runoff and total runoff of different underlying surfaces are ranked as follows: building>square>road>green space, and rain gardens; permeable pavements and grass planting ditches are strongly adaptable to various underlying surfaces. In the same sub-catchment area, the bioretention ponds and rainwater buckets have the best runoff reduction effect under the short-term rainstorm scenarios, followed by rain gardens, permeable pavements and grass planting ditches; whereas the regulation capacity of green roofs and roof rainwater gutters is limited.