Composition and dynamics of soil organic carbon (SOC) are important indicators for soil restoration. However, little attention has been paid to SOC dynamics in red soil erosion areas. We conducted an investigation in the surface soil layers (0-10 and 10-20 cm) in Pinus massoniana woodlands with restoration histories of 10 and 30 years respectively. We studied the changes of the contents of soil organic carbon (SOC) fractions, coarse particulate organic carbon (cPOC), fine particulate organic carbon (fPOC), and mineral-associated organic carbon (MOC), as well as the POC/MOC ratios, to determine the effects of ecological restoration in both woodlands compared to bare land and secondary forest. Our results showed that the various types of soil organic carbon in both soil layers significantly increased with time of restoration (P < 0.05). In the stand with 10 years restoration, the soil fPOC increased significantly in the top soil (0-10 cm) which accounted for more than 64.1% of the total SOC content, indicating that the SOC mostly accumulated in the form of fPOC. However, the soil cPOC and MOC had no significant changes. Compared to the stand with 10 years of restoration, in the Pinus massoniana woodland with 30 years of restoration, the soil cPOC and MOC increased significantly in the top layer (< 10 cm), but fPOC did not. The contents of fPOC and MOC also increased significantly in the 10-20 cm layer, but the cPOC contents did not. The results demonstrated that the patterns of SOC sequestration in the process of ecological restoration confirmed the SOC saturation theory. The soil POC/MOC ratio was higher in the top layer than in the deeper layer and initially increased with time of restoration, reaching its highest value in our study in the 10-year stand, then decreased rapidly. The results indicated that the SOC became more stable in subsoil than in topsoil with restoration time, which highlighted that ecological restoration plays a crucial role in long-term sequestration of SOC in red soil erosion areas.