The pagoda is of a special design. Though basically a pavilion-style pagoda, it has on its roof nine small multi-eaved pagodas. It is the only such pagoda in China, and it is named for the nine small pagodas on its roof. The pagoda's eight sides are concave, distinguishing it from other pagodas of the Tang Dynasty.

Jiuding Pagoda is divided into the main body and the roof, with a combined height of 13.3 meters. No information is available about the original lower part of the pagoda, but since the brickwork of the present lower part looks poor and there is an obvious division in the middle of the main body, there may have been some other structure around the lower part of the main body. The eaves are built of seventeen tiers of brick forming inverse curves. This is one characteristic of pagodas of the Tang Dynasty. The roof is constructed of sixteen tiers of overlapping bricks. The middle pagoda on the roof is larger than the others, but all are three-storey square structures. The middle pagoda has a door on its southern side; the rest, each has a door on the front side. A statue of Buddha is in the middle pagoda.

Inside the main body of the pagoda stands a 1.2-metre-high stone statue of Buddha, which, judging from its style, is a relic of the Tang Dynasty.