Water-soluble dietary fiber was extracted from ten kinds of cereal bran, such as rice fragrance rice bran, long grain fragrant rice bran, indica rice bran, millet rice bran, wheat bran thick bran, wheat bran thin bran, oat bran, sweet buckwheat skin powder, tartary buckwheat skin powder, millet skin powder. The physicochemical characteristics, functional characteristics and molecular structure of these SDF samples were studied. SDF from tartary buckwheat skin powder had the strongest water holding capacity. SDF from millet skin powder had the strongest oil holding capacity. SDF from wheat bran thin bran showeds the strongest water expansion. SDF from rice fragrance rice bran, long grain fragrant rice bran, millet rice bran and sweet buckwheat skin powder did not have water absorption expansion ability. The glucose binding abilities of ten kinds of SDF were between 56.95~432.83 mg/g. The cholesterol adsorption capacity of SDF from Grain bran was significantly different in the range of 0.41~66.21 mol/g. The antioxidant ability of ABTS and DPPH for SDF from wheat bran was the highest, and the antioxidant ability of hydroxyl for SDF of millet rice bran was the highest. The total antioxidant capacity of the ten kinds of SDF was significantly varied with the range of 2.00~5.59 μmol/g. SEM results showed some uneven surface with granular and smooth with porous structure, and Fourier infrared absorption spectrum results show different weak peaks. In conclusion, there were obvious differences in the molecular structure, physical and functional properties of SDF from different sources, and SDF with different structural and functional properties can be selected according to the specific utilizations.