Presence of phenolic acids is one of the most important factors that influences the soil microbial community. Investigating changes in phenolic acid composition and its relationship to the soil microbial community structure under different land uses can contribute to a better understanding of mechanisms of microbial community change under different land uses. In this study, we selected natural secondary forest (SF), larch plantation (LP), farm land (FL), and abandoned land (AL) as research sites in the Shanhetun Forestry Bureau. Phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) approaches were employed to detect the soil microbial community structure among the four land uses. The soil total phenol, complex phenol, water-soluble phenol, and nine phenolic acids in 0-5 cm, 5-10 cm, and 10-20 cm depth soil layers in plots at all land use sites were determined. Our findings were that the total soil phenol content in LP was significantly higher than in soil under other land uses in each of the soil layers tested. Water-soluble phenol content in the 0-5 cm and 5-10 cm soil layers in LP were high for the four land uses, while the water-soluble phenol content was highest in SF in 10-20 cm layer (P < 0.05). In the 0-5 cm soil layer, the total PLFA and fungal content of SF were 14.61%, 80.91%, 55.63% and 156.55% higher than that of FL and AL respectively. Meanwhile, the ratio of fungi to bacteria (F:B) in SF was higher than for other land uses (P < 0.05). Total phenol had a positive and negative relationship with the microbial community (bacteria and fungi) in the 0-5 cm and 5-10 cm layers, respectively, while there was no significant correlation between the three soil phenolic substances and the microbial community in the 10-20 cm layer (P > 0.05). Redundancy analysis showed that ferulic acid, 2,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid, and β-sitosterol in the 0-5 cm layer had significant effects on the fungal community and F:B (P < 0.05), but in 10-20 cm layer soil, only β-sitosterol affected the growth of microbial communities. Changes to land use affected the content of phenolic acids and the microbial community structure in top soil. Phenolic acids significantly promoted microbial communities in the top soil, but inhibited microbial growth at greater soil depths.