In order to understand the response of soil ciliate communities to the soil environmental changes afterimplementation of returning grazing to grasslands project,the community characteristics of soil ciliates at three different restoration sampling of plant sites and one control sampling site of Maqu county in Gansu provincefrom May, 2015 to March, 2016. This study was carried outusing non-flooded petri dish method, observation in vivo, and culture direct counting method. At the same time, the physic-chemical factors including soil pH, soil temperature, soil water content, soil porosity, soil available phosphorus, available potassium, available nitrogen, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, total potassium, and organic matter were investigated in different soil samples. The results showed that total 95 soil ciliate species were identified, whichbelonged to 9 classes, 15 orders, 21 families, and 28 genera.The hierarchical cluster analysis showed that there were significant differences in distribution of soil ciliate species among the soils collected from restoration sites and the control site. The similarity of species distribution in three restoration sampling sites were low, but the composition of soil ciliate communities were complex. The abundance index, richness index, evenness index, and diversity index of soil ciliate species in soil samples collected from restoration sampling sites were all higher than that in control soil samples. Correlation analysis revealed that under the condition of ecological restoration, soil water content, soil organic matter, and soil total nitrogen were main factors influencing the soil ciliate community composition. It showed that the variation of soil ciliate communities was respond well to the change of soil environmental conditions during the restoration of grazing land.