Both Canon 400D and Nikon S220 have 10.0 MP resolution sensors but Canon 400D's sensor is APS-C (22.2 x 14.8 mm ) and Nikon S220's sensor is 1/2.3-inch (6.08 x 4.56 mm ).
Since Canon 400D's has a larger sensor area with the same resolution, this means that it also has a larger pixel area hence better light collecting capacity for a given aperture compared to Nikon S220.
Below you can see the 400D and S220 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Canon 400D has a 11.9x Larger sensor area than Nikon S220. Larger sensors give photographer more control on the depth of field and blurry background compared to smaller sensor when shot in same focal length and aperture.