A field experiment was designed to study the effects of nitrogen (N) source and urease inhibitor N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide (NBPT) or nitrification inhibitor dicyandiamide (DCD) on nitrous oxide (N₂O) emission and N use efficiency (NUE) in a sandy loam soil. Six treatments including no N fertilizer (control), N fertilizer urea alone (U), urea plus NBPT (NBPT), urea plus DCD (DCD), urea plus NBPT and DCD (NBPT plus DCD) and nitrate-based fertilizer nitrophosphate (NP) were designed and implemented separately during the wheat growth period. Seasonal cumulative N₂O emissions with urea alone amounted to 0.49 ± 0.12 kg N₂O-N ha⁻¹ and were significantly (P < 0.05) reduced to 0.28 ± 0.03, 0.31 ± 0.01 and 0.26 ± 0.01 kg N₂O-N ha⁻¹ by application of DCD, NBPT and NBPT plus DCD, respectively. Cumulative N₂O emissions from NP were 0.28 ± 0.01 kg N₂O-N ha⁻¹. A single N₂O flux peak was identified following basal fertilization, and DCD and/or NBPT inhibition effects mainly occurred during the peak emission period. The NP application significantly (P < 0.05) increased wheat yield by 12.3% and NUE from 28.8% (urea alone) to 35.9%, while urease and/or nitrification inhibitors showed a slight increase effect. Our results clearly indicated that the application of urea as basal fertilizer, but not as supplemental fertilizer, together with DCD and NBPT is an effective practice to reduce N₂O emissions. The application of NP instead of urea would be an optimum agricultural strategy for reducing N₂O emissions and increasing crop yield and NUE for wheat cultivation in soils of the North China Plain.