Background and aimsAfforestation and natural recovery are distinct approaches to vegetation restoration that are effective in rocky desertified areas of southwestern China, reestablishing vegetation cover. However, how these strategies remediate rocky desertified soils remains unclear. We investigated Delavaya toxocarpa plantations (monocultures) of various ages and natural restoration vegetation.MethodsWe analyzed the differences in the physical and chemical properties, enzyme activities, and microbial characteristics of rocky desertification soils under different restoration strategies. We studied how soil microbial diversity and soil properties respond to increasing afforestation durations.ResultsBulk density, total phosphorus, total potassium, available phosphorus, and available potassium decreased with increasing stand age, whereas pH, soil organic carbon, and total and available nitrogen increased. Urease, catalase, and alkaline phosphatase activities initially increased and then decreased. Most soil indices were markedly higher under natural vegetation restoration than under plantation forests. Microbial diversity increased with standing age under artificial afforestation. The proportional distributions of predominant bacterial phyla (Proteobacteria, Chloroflexi, and Firmicutes) differed significantly among stand ages. No significant differences were observed in structure or diversity of soil microbial communities between the natural vegetation restoration and plantation treatments for the same restoration duration (18 years). Bacterial and fungal community compositions were influenced by available phosphorus, suggesting that soil phosphorus is a limiting factor for microbial communities. Artificial afforestation in rocky desertification areas significantly increased soil microbial diversity with increasing forest age.ConclusionNatural vegetation restoration enhanced soil microbial diversity and improved nutrient content and enzyme activity in the studied rocky desertified soils.