Abstract: Soil seed bank indicates the total amount of survived seeds in the upper strata of withering junk onto the soil and in the soil. The period of soil seed bank is one of the life history stages of plant population，which are called subpopulation stages. The paper elaborates on the characteristics and research methods of soil seed bank, together with the research progress on soil seed bank at home and abroad. Meanwhile，the paper also discusses the role that the soil seed bank plays in the vegetation restoration，and analyzes the applications of soil seed bank to ecological restoration of destroyed surface by engineering.