A theoretical formula about the non-linear distribution of active pressure acting on the back of balance weight retaining wall has been deduced by researching the houizontal layer analysis.In fact,the general retaining wall and the broken segmental back wall can be looked as a special case of this formula.According to this formula, a general program for calculating non-linear earth pressure has been developed. By comparing the theoretical solution gained from the program with the result of testing a weight retaining wall,it indicates that the theoretical solution is practicable in calculating the active earth pressure on the back of retaining wall.