Objective To understand the pathogen composition and epidemic characteristics of viral diarrhea in Hubei province. Methods Stool samples of adults and children from sentinel monitoring of viral diarrhea in Hubei province from 2017 to 2019 were collected. Real-time RT-PCR method was used to detect the nucleic acids of rotavirus, norovirus, adenovirus, astrovirus and sapovirus. The detection results of the 5 pathogens were statistically analyzed. Results The total positive rate of 5 diarrheal viruses in 1 957 samples was 36.84%, and the number of cases of mixed infection accounted for 19.00%, among which rotavirus accounted for 9.50%, norovirus 13.29%, astrovirus 4.14%, adenovirus 14.10% and sapovirus 3.37%. In Hubei province, rotavirus and norovirus were still prevalent in autumn and winter. The epidemic seasons of adenovirus and astrovirus were similar, mainly occurring in April and May, while the infection rate of sapovirus was relatively high in November and January of the following year. The main infected population of the five diarrheal viruses was still children aged 5 years and younger, which was significantly higher than other age groups. Conclusion The main pathogens of viral diarrhea in Hubei from 2017 to 2019 are adenovirus, norovirus and rotavirus, and there are some mixed infections. It is necessary to strengthen the monitoring of major pathogens and take effective and scientific protection measures for high incidence seasons and key populations.