Kenny Miller's 13th goal in 12 matches helped Wolves put their FA Cup disappointment behind them as they consolidated their play-off place.
Saturday's quarter-final defeat at Southampton was quickly forgotten as Dave Jones' side moved eight points clear in the play-off places and dented Reading's hopes of automatic promotion.
The home side made a flying start and were almost in front in the first minute as James Harper set up Nathan Tyson for a left-foot volley which cracked against an upright.
Wolves gave as good as they got in a frantic opening spell, Nathan Blake shooting into the sidenetting and Colin Cameron forcing a smart save from Marcus Hahnemann.
Luke Chadwick saw a diving header smartly saved by Matt Murray to cap a frantic opening ten minutes, before Reading's lone striker Nicky Forster flashed a shot across the face of goal after Nick Shorey had sent him clear.
At the other end, Blake set up Miller for a shot that again brought the best out of Hahnemann and the Scottish international then wasted a glorious chance on 33 minutes when his downward header from a Mark Kennedy cross allowed Hahnemann to make a simple save when he should have had no chance.
But Miller finally beat the giant American keeper to net his 19th of the season on the stroke of half time.
Hahnemann was slow to react to Shaun Newton's shot from a Kennedy cross and the effort bounced kindly back off a post for Miller to beat Newton to a simple tap-in.
Hahnemann made amends with a stunning stop to keep out Blake's point-blank header 12 minutes into the second half, but Reading were unlucky not to force an equaliser in a nail-biting second half.
The closest they came was when Steve Brown saw his header from a clever corner routine brilliantly saved by Murray and, from the resulting corner, fellow defender John Mackie saw a header cleared off the line by Alex Rae.