The aim of this paper is to review studies to evaluate how desert vegetation (including xerophytes growing in dry habitats and mesophytes constituting desert riparian forest) response to groundwater table changes at different scales (i.e. individual scale, population scale, community scale and patch scale). Results collected in this study show that desert vegetation response to groundwater table changes in a significant nonlinear way as a result of plant adaptation to the environmental factors such as climate, soil, and groundwater. Based on the review, it is pointed out that: soil heterogeneity and plant plasticity on the basis of the balance between groundwater and plant, and the combination of long-term monitoring with controlled experiments should be taken into consideration in the future researches; applications of isotopic trace technology and Hyperspectral-Remote-sensing technology should be enhanced to promote related researches in the future; plant hydraulic lift at the individual, community and ecosystem level, phenotypic plasticity and adaptive value of plant responding to the changing water quality as well as to the groundwater table fluctuations deserve more scientific attention; the responses of desert vegetation to groundwater table at microcosmic scale (molecule scale) and mechanisms provoking this kind of responses should be further studied; and integrated research at landscape scale and ecosystem scale, which served to provide basis for inland river basin management, also should be furthered.