Industries in the city include machinery, chemical, power, metal making, and food processing. Xining is a major producer for making heavy machine tools, electrolytic aluminium, and alloy steel. The chief farm products of Xining are corn, rape, wheat, fruit, vegetables, milk and livestock.

The city is the supply depot for visitors who are headed to the other destinations of Qinghai Province and Tibet, making it a great place to shop. Water Well Alley Market is for dining with over 3,000 stalls. The Riverside Market for shopping. Stalls here sell a variety of goods, from fish to squawking parakeets and birdcages.

Xining has a vivid nightlife and streets are filled with small vendors selling both food and clothing. The older people will be seen at the coffee houses and tea houses.

Xining provides a variety of delicious food and snacks. The biggest street for vendors selling is on Daxin Jie, where touts sell every thing from barbecued fish to fried dumplings. One of Qinghai's special exports is caterpillar fungus, called dongchongxiacao, which can be soaked in vodka like a worm in tequila or brewed with soup.

The Dongguan Mosque is one of the largest mosques in north west China. It was built in 1379, the mosque has a long history of more than 600 years. Architecture of the mosque combines traditional Chinese style and the local features, with grand appearance and delicate, dazzlingly inside ornaments. The mosque has a prayer hall which can hold up to 3,000 people. The mosque now serves as an educational centre and institution of higher learning for Islamism, and also is the leading mosque in Qinghai.

The sacred Kumbum Monastery is one of the six most important monasteries. The ancient monastery, built during the 39th year in 560 AD of the reign of emperor Jiajing. The Great Hall of the Golden Roof and the Great Hall of Meditation are the main parts. There are a total of around 20,000 religious paintings and embroideries within, as well as numerous yak butter sculptures and idols of Buddhas past, present and future. A pure gold tower stands in the hall that contains the ashes of Tsong Khapa. Photography is prohibited within the monastery.