Shrub is an important vegetation type in arid and semi-arid desert ecosystems. Its unique morphological and physiological adaptation characteristics can effectively promote the restoration of the structure and function of degraded desert ecosystems. Soil faunal is an indispensable and important part of desert steppe ecosystems, which plays an important ecological role in promoting the evolution of "fertile island" of shrubs, and is conducive to the play of the ecological function of shrubs and the restoration of degraded ecosystems. In recent years, domestic and foreign scholars have gradually deepened the research on soil fauna in desert shrub microhabitats and obtained a great achievement. On this basis, the distribution and ecological functions of soil faunal community in desert shrub microhabitats were summarized firstly. Then the mathematical model of the interaction between shrubs and soil faunal distribution was summarized. Finally, the possible future research directions and suggestions were put forward in view of the existing problems in the study of soil faunal within shrub microhabitats in desert.