Microbial residue carbon (MRC) plays a critical role in soil carbon cycling and stabilization under global climate change. However, how vegetation restoration affects MRC accumulation remains unclear. In this study, we compiled 817 field observations to investigate the effects of vegetation restoration on MRC accumulation at a global scale. The results showed that vegetation restoration increased MRC, fungal residue carbon (FRC), and bacterial residue carbon (BRC) by 39.9%, 46.6%, and 34.3%, respectively, while the FRC/BRC ratio remained relatively stable. Vegetation restoration enhanced the contribution of FRC to soil organic carbon by 8.3%, highlighting its crucial role in carbon stabilization. Grassland restoration led to a greater increase in MRC (+52.1%) compared with natural succession (+36.6%) and afforestation (+24.8%). In addition, vegetation restoration in arid regions led to larger increases in both MRC (+44.1%) and FRC (+57.6%) than in humid regions (+35.3%, +35.2%, respectively). Collectively, our results reveal that fungal residues played a key role in soil organic carbon accumulation, which is primarily regulated by soil pH, the fungal-to-bacterial ratio, and nutrient availability following vegetation restoration. These findings clarify how soil pH regulates fungal pathways to facilitate carbon sequestration during vegetation restoration.