Soil fauna have a crucial influence on nutrient cycles and energy flows in ecosystems. In recent years, soil fauna ecology has become a hot topic and frontier in ecology, though it has been studied for more than 60 years at the international level. By contrast, in China, it wasn't until the late 1970s that significant soil fauna ecology studies were performed in the Changbai Mountains. This article summarizes the three periods of soil fauna ecological studies in the forests of northeastern China and reviews the progress made in research in the last decade. Studies from the last decade can be divided into three categories: distribution patterns and diversity, responses to environmental factors, and ecological function. This article provides a reference for further development of soil fauna ecology in the forests of northeastern and other areas of China. Future investigations of soil fauna ecology in the forest of northeastern China should focus on the interaction between soil fauna and microbiota, the responses of soil fauna to global changes, the interaction between aboveground and underground ecosystems, and the application of molecular biology technology in soil biological research.