Soil water infiltration is an important surface hydrological process. Most mathematical models describing soil water infiltration and soil water distribution are complicated. The objective of this paper was to present an algebraic model for one-dimensional transient soil water infiltration. The algebraic model contains three parameters, and the influence of the parameters on the algebraic models was analyzed. A one-dimensional infiltration experiment was performed. Model parameters were determined from the experimental data, and the transient soil water content distributions and the infiltration times were calculated with the algebraic model. The calculated soil water content and infiltration time values were compared with observed data. The results indicate that the model reflects the features of the transient soil water infiltration process.