Estimating crop residue is important for soil conservation and tillage management. Remote sensing could provide the potential of estimating amount of crop residue using reflectance measurement and model simulation procedures. The purpose of this study was (1) to use the SAIL (Scattering by Arbitrarily Inclined Leaves) model to simulate crop residue reflectance from wheat, Triticum aestivum (L.), at visible and near-infrared wavelengths; and (2) to compare the simulated reflectance with field-measured reflectance for evaluating the simulation model. Simulated reflectance in visible and near-infrared wavebands was overestimated about 1 to 5 per cent, compared with measured reflectance in the field. However, overestimation was within the experimental errors. Results suggest that the SAIL model can be used to simulate crop residue reflectance in different wheat crop residue covers and that wheat crop residue cover could be estimated by inverting the model.