Soil degradation caused by erosion has greatly reduced ecosystem stability and sustainability. Afforestation is widely recognized as a fundamental measure to reduce soil erosion and restore degraded ecosystems. Land preparation is also regarded as an important engineering practice for controlling erosion. However, the specific effects of different land preparation-afforestation treatments on soil erosion resistance remain unclear. In this study, we analyzed the effects of different land preparation-afforestation treatments on soil erosion resistance and their underlying mechanisms. The results showed that, compared with sloping farmland, integrated land preparation and afforestation significantly increased vegetation biomass, soil organic matter (SOM), saturated hydraulic conductivity, and total porosity (P < 0.05), while significantly decreasing bulk density and pH (P < 0.05). As a result, mean weight diameter, soil organic carbon cementing agent index, soil structural stability index, and clay ratio increased, whereas percentage of aggregate disintegration and the K-factor decreased. The level ditches-Pinus tabulaeformis exhibited relatively strong soil erosion resistance across all soil layers. Redundancy analysis and variance partitioning analysis showed that the driving factors explained 90.2 % and 87.1 % of the total variation in soil erosion resistance, respectively. Soil properties were identified as the dominant variables (explained = 71.7 %), while SOM (incremental R-2 = 0.47), tree species (incremental R-2 = 0.15), and clay content (incremental R-2 = 0.13) were the core driving factors. Partial least squares structural equation modeling indicated that vegetation characteristics and soil physical properties were key mediating factors affecting soil erosion resistance, while soil nutrients played a secondary and supporting role. Overall, this study highlighted the critical role of integrated land preparation and afforestation in enhancing soil erosion resistance, identified the main driving factors, and provided a valuable reference for vegetation restoration in the arid and semi-arid regions of the Loess Plateau.