Litter is an important component of ecosystem which regulates the ecosystem material cycle and elements balance. In recent years, the increasing atmospheric nitrogen deposition profoundly affects the litter production and decomposition. In order to explore the effect of nitrogen deposition on litter nutrient return in shrub ecosystem, we conducted a short-term simulated nitrogen deposition experiment on the Rhododendron simsii shrubland in Dawei Mountain (Hunan Province) from August 2012 to August 2014. In this study, we established four treatments with different levels of nitrogen addition (each level with three replicates): control (CK, no nitrogen addition), low nitrogen addition (LN, 2 g m^-2 a^-1), medium nitrogen addition (MN, 5 g m^-2 a^-1), and high nitrogen addition (HN, 10 g m^-2 a^-1). We analyzed the effects of nitrogen addition on litter production, leaf decomposition and nutrient release. The results showed that annual mean litter biomass in CK, LN, MN and HN were (1936.54±358.9), (2541.89±112.5), (2342.97±519.8), and (2087.22±391.8) kg/hm², respectively. The annual mean litter biomass of LN, MN and HN were 32.68%, 21.16%, and 7.93% higher than that of CK, respectively. Leaf litter, sexual organ litter, branch litter and other components accounted for 75.75%, 15.09%, 7.70% and 1.45% of the total litter biomass, respectively, which showed that leaf litter was the main component in litterfall. In addition, the biomass of leaf litter, sexual organ litter, branch litter and other components in LN, MN and HN treatments were all higher than that in CK. The litter components in different treatments showed obviously seasonal dynamics with the similar pattern: the peak of leaf litter, branch litter and sexual organ litter occurred in October to November, October and May, respectively. This was because the dominant species in Rhododendron simsii shrubland were deciduous species, which would produce a lot of leaf and branch litters in autumn. Additionly, the flowering period of Rhododendron simsii is in April to May, which would lead to a large number of sexual organ litters in May. The decomposition rate of Rhododendron simsii leaf litter was slower than Symplocos hunanensis: Rhododendron simsii litter required 7.69-17.65 years for 95% decomposition, while Symplocos hunanensis litter only required 5.08-11.11 years. Nitrogen addition did not show significant effects on the release of C element during decomposition process of Rhododendron simsii and Symplocos hunanensis leaf litter, but significantly promoted the release of N and P elements of Symplocos hunanensis leaf litter. This study showed that nitrogen addition promoted the decomposition and elements release of Symplocos hunanensis leaf litter in Rhododendron simsii shrubland, which indicated that nitrogen addition could affect nutrient release patterns of leaf litter and regulate the nutrient cycling of shrub ecosystem.