Soil enzymes are considered a key component of the soil, mediating the decomposition of organic matter and catalyzing key transformations of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycling. In addition, extracellular enzyme activities (EEAs) in soil can be used as a measure of soil health. Revegetation is an important method of promoting the ecological restoration of a damaged ecosystem; however, little research has been conducted on EEAs in arid areas during vegetation restoration and after revegetation. To elucidate the differences in EEAs among different vegetation types and restoration stages in the dumping site of an open-pit coal mine in Heidaigou in northwest China, different revegetation types (including revegetation established in different years-a bare plot in a new dump, an abandoned area, and natural vegetation) were selected in order to investigate the recovery of EEAs (including three types of oxidases-catalase, polyphenol oxidase, and dehydrogenase, and four types of hydrolases-invertase, urease, phosphatase, and cellulose). The results show that revegetation significantly improves both the soil's physical-chemistry properties and the EEAs in dumping sites when these properties are compared to those of bare land. After 18 y of revegetation, the EEAs in the topsoil (0-20 cm) recovered to 65%-76% of that seen in the plot with natural vegetation. The recovery rates of hydrolases (average 86.9%) were greater than those of oxidases (average 42.7%), and the recovery rates of EEAs exhibited a decreasing trend from phosphatase (154.7%), invertase (74.3%), cellulase (59.9%), urease (58.5%), catalase (52.1%), and dehydrogenase (38.1%), to polyphenol oxidase (37.8%). During the restoration process, the annual recovery rate of EEAs in the first 10a (averaged 6.0%/a) was greater than that seen 15a (4.8%/a) and 18a (3.2%/a) after revegetation. Significant relationships were observed between EEAs and soil nutrients; therefore, EEAs could be used as biological indicators when assessing soil quality. Our study indicates that EEA recovery occurs over an extended period, and that specific enzyme activities can be used to examine the changes in microbial physiology under different revegetation types in an arid mining area.