Sandy soils have limitations for growing crops. In general, those soils have poor structural traits, low fertility, and little organic matter. Agricultural practices influence the physical and chemical characteristics of soil and induce changes in soil microbial structure and function. It was important to determine a conventional agricultural practice to improve the quality of soil and solve the problem of the reduced productivity. The effects of different tillage practices on physical, chemical, and microbial properties of the soil have been studied. Organic matter is crucial for soil productivity and its quantity depends heavily on soil management systems. Returning crop straw to fields is one of the common practices to improve soil organic matter and achieve sustainable development of agriculture. Biochar, a solid elemental carbonaceous material, formed from the thermochemical conversion of biomass in an oxygen-limited environment, is a much more durable form of C than parent plant biomass or most forms of C in soil organic matter. Hence, the application of biochar to soil has been proposed for increasing the stable C pool and improving physical and chemical properties of soil. No-tillage and direct seeding are believed to be more sustainable than conventional practices, mainly because they improve nutrient status and water conservation. Although there have been many studies that referred to no-tillage and straw return or biochar application separately, the combined effects of various tillage and organic materials returned to sandy soil in the Huanghuaihai Plain requires further research. To address the adverse physical and chemical characteristics of the soil, a field experiment was conducted in a sandy fluvo-aquic soil in a village near Xinzheng City, Henan Province, to assess the effect of five methods of organic material return. The five methods were equivalent in the amount of carbon application, and included conventional tillage combined with straw return (TS), conventional tillage combined with biochar application (TB), conventional tillage combined with half straw and half biochar application (TSB), no-tillage combined with straw cover (NTSB), and no-tillage combined with half straw and half biochar cover (NTSB). The results indicated that compared with TS, the most popular local agricultural practice, TB significantly decreased soil bulk density, and increased soil water content and pH value. The soil quality index of soil organic matter increased by 16.4%. However, TB decreased the soil macroaggregate number and bacterial gene copy number by 21.2% and 16.1%, respectively. Compared with the available carbon component of straw, the chemical stability of biochar decreased microbial growth to some extent. TSB without any significant effect on soil chemicals or microbial shifts could significantly decrease soil macroaggregate number. NTS and NTSB, the two no-tillage practices could significantly increase the soil water content in the maize growing stages, bell mouth and ripening, separately, and NTSB dramatically increased bacterial number and soil organic matter by 53.7% and 14.9%, respectively, and decreased the soil fractal dimension, which increased the amount of macroaggregates and its stability. Compared with the common practice of conventional tillage with straw return, no-tillage combined with straw and biochar return is an effective way to change physical, chemical, and microbial properties of sandy soil, and the results will provide some theoretical basis for improving other low-yield soils.