Ecological restoration has become a hot topic in ecological and environmental studies since the 1980s. This paper reviews the literature published in recent years and considers the concept of ecological rehabilitation/reclamation through positive kinds of ecological restoration processes by the intervention of rational human activities. It has characteristics of complexity, pertinence, dynamics, and uncertainty. There are various categories of ecological rehabilitation/reclamation due to the differentiation of the geographic environment. From an operational perspective, the general principles of ecological rehabilitation/reclamation are put forward, including a regional ecological problem oriented project formulation, setting scientifically sound project objectives, active stakeholder participation, as well as scientific monitoring and evaluation. Ecological rehabilitation/reclamation is a process involving continuous experimentation, learning, and optimization. Several important steps constitute this process including problem identification, project design, executable project selection, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and adaptive management. As a passage for the input of knowledge, information and resources, public participation contributes to ecological rehabilitation/reclamation in fostering flexible management and operational mechanisms, and promoting effective decision making. In contrast to the perspectives above, there are many problems of ecological rehabilitation/reclamation in China at present. Among them, the most critical ones are an insufficient decision analysis before project implementation and a lack of objective and systematic post-implementation evaluation on project effectiveness. Therefore, the establishment of scientific evaluation mechanisms, both pre and post implementation, is one of the core strategies in improving the effectiveness of ecological rehabilitation/reclamation projects in China.