By collecting soil samples from the red-soil hilly region in the south of Jiangxi Province and comparatively analyzing soil physical properties, soil effective elements and the microbial content under different recovery modes, ecological effects of soil under the recovery modes were investigated. Results show that soil capillary porosity, noncapillary porosity and total microbial content of artificial restoration land and prohibited land significantly increased as compared with bare land. Moreover, soil available nutrient content of artificial restoration land was higher than that of bare land and prohibited zone. The landuse mode of planting orange trees has the highest contents of soil saturated water, available water and soil organic matter, as well as relatively higher content of soil total microbial. Based on the comprehensive analysis, the landuse mode of planting orange trees is not only optimal in improving soil ecological effect, but also has the better economic benefit. The prohibition mode also has a fair effect on soil improvement, but is lack of economic benefit.