In this study, 8 vegetation types, including Multi-flower meadow (WH), Hippophae shrub (HR), Salix shrub (SS), Poplar forest (PC), Poplar birch forest (PQ), Poplar birch and larix forest (PQL), Larix and picea forest (LP) and Picea forest (PM), were selected from different succession stages in the upper Wenyuhe watershed. We aim to determine soil denitrifying bacterial community composition and abundance by using Illumina Miseq high-throughput sequencing method. Meanwhile, acetylene inhibition method was adopted to evaluate soil denitrifying enzyme activities (DEA). The ANOVA analysis on denitrifiers community composition and abundance was carried out consequentially. The correlation coefficient of soil properties and denitrifiers community composition and function were derived through both redundancy analysis (RDA) and spearman correlation analysis. The results showed that 1) nirS-type denitrifiers community composition and function significantly differed in different vegetations types and soil layers. Nitrate contents (NO₃⁺-N) in SS 0-15 cm soil layer were significantly higher than those in other vegetation types. 2) nirS-type denitrifiers diversity index of the WH, PQ and PM were significantly higher than that of other vegetation types. 3) Denitrifying enzyme acitivity (DEA) in HR and SS were significantly higher than that in other vegetation types. 4) Soil denitrifying bacterial diversity and dominant taxa were unique distribution in different vegetations types, such as Planctomycetes was uniquely distribution in 15-30 cm soil layer of LP and PM vegetations. 5) Soil pH, soil organic carbon, ammonium and nitrate nitrogen contents were all important factors influencing soil denitrifiers community structure and composition. Particularly, changes of soil ammonium and nitrate nitrogen were two key factors that could seriously contributed to the variation of soil denitrifying bacterial diversity and enzyme activity. We revealed that characteristics of soil denitrifying bacterial community structure and function among different vegetation types in riparian zone of upper Wenyuhe watershed. It will provide important references for further study of nitrogen cycle and water pollution prevention and control on riparian zones in this region.