Ecosystem service is the core and the highlight of ecology, and recently, the study on ecosystem services has been intensified. The status quo of ecosystem service research was assessed by critically reviewing current publication, which was collected from both China Academic Journals Full-text Database and Science Citation Index Expanded Database. The search key words used were ecosystem services or ecosystem service, and literature both in Chinese and English were included in the analyses. The information collected was analyzed using bibliometrics:number of related papers per year, major research themes of the top 10 countries and institutions, international cooperation, major journals on ecosystem service in both English and Chinese, the most cited authors in international and domestic papers, and major research themes and highlights of ecosystem service subject of the research from 1991 to 2014. Our findings showed that:(1) the scientific outcomes of ecosystem services are increasing with a good developmental trend. (2) USA is the leading country in this field, and University of California System is the dominant institution. Overall, cooperation between countries and institutions is increasing. (3) Eight research highlights of ecosystem service research were identified by keyword analysis and they included:the mechanism of ecosystems services (ecosystem structure, processes, functions, and services), conservation and sustainability, biodiversity, vulnerability, land use and landscape change, valuation and modeling, climate (or environment) change, and decision-making process. The analysis of the overall distribution of domestic and foreign focus in research in each period showed that the international research focuses primarily on the mechanisms of ecosystem services and human well-being. In contrast, chinese researchers are more concerned about the assessment of ecosystem services. (4) In recent years, China's international status has improved significantly in the field of ecosystem services. According to the number of published scientific papers, China ranks 5^th in the world, and Chinese Academy of Sciences is one of the world's major research institutions. However, the number of citations of its publications is low. In conclusion, the quality of chinese research papers should be improved, and international cooperation needs to be strengthened in the future.