In this paper, a rainfall-runoff modeling system is developed based on a nonlinear Volterra functional series and a hydrological conceptual modeling approach. Two models, i.e. the time-variant gain model (TVGM) and the distributed time-variant gain model (DTVGM) that are built on the platform of Digital Elevation Model (DEM), Remote Sensing (RS) and Unit Hydrological Process were proposed. The developed DTVGM model was applied to two cases in the Heihe River Basin that is located in the arid and semiarid region of northwestern China and the Chaobai River basin located in the semihumid region of northern China. The results indicate that, in addition to the classic dynamic differential approach to describe nonlinear processes in hydrological systems, it is possible to study such complex processes through the proposed systematic approach to identify prominent hydrological relations. The DTVGM, coupling the advantages of both nonlinear and distributed hydrological models, can simulate variant hydrological processes under different environment conditions. Satisfactory results were obtained in forecasting the time-space variations of hydrological processes and the relationships between land use/cover change and surface runoff variation.