Desertification is the main cause of land degradation in the desert-oasis ecotone of the Hexi Corridor. Scientific and reasonable sand control measures can effectively control wind-sand damage and then contribute to the reconstruction and restoration of the vegetation-soil system. For many years, research on sand control measures has focused on the impact of a given measure on plant communities and soil under different periods. There is still lack of sufficient understanding of the ecological benefits of different measures in the same period. In view of this, we took the inter-dune land of active sand dune (Asd) as a control, selected grazing exclusion+wheat straw sand barrier (Ge+Ws), wheat straw sand barrier+Haloxylon ammodendron plantation (Ws+H) and Nylon net sand barrier+Haloxylon ammodendron plantation (Nn+H) as the different treatments. The quantitative characteristics of plant communities and the changing laws and relationships of soil factors under different sand control measures were studied, and the ecological benefits of each measure were evaluated. The results showed that:(1) in terms of vegetation, the number of the herb layer and shrub layer communities under the three sand control measures showed an increasing trend. Among them, herb increased mostly in the Ge+Ws, while the shrub increased mostly in the Ws+H and Nn+H; In terms of soil, with the restoration of plant communities, the three sand control measures could greatly improve the main nutrients such as soil total carbon, total nitrogen, and organic matter, but at the same time had negative effects on soil moisture, the water content of the surface soil under Ge+Ws, Ws+H and Nn+H decreased by 37.99%, 31.37% and 35.94%, respectively. (2) The structural equation model showed that sand control measures indirectly changed soil factors by directly affecting shrub and herb communities. Increasing the number of shrub communities would significantly reduce soil moisture (P<0.001), but the negative impact of herb communities on soil moisture was not significant in Nn+H. Similarly, shrub communities were the main driving factor for soil nutrient increase, while the positive effect on soil nutrients only reached a significant level in Ge+Ws for herb communities (P<0.05). Under the influence of sand control measures, the shrub layer and the herb layer had a synergistic relationship and this relationship reached a significant level in the Ws+H (P<0.05) and Nn+H (P<0.01) regions where Haloxylon ammodendron was planted. (3) The advantage of Ge+Ws lies in the species diversity and productivity of herb communities. It is suitable for areas where native shrubs are colonized in active sand dunes; Ws+H and Nn+H can be constructing more stable and high-productivity shrub communities, especially the Nn+H which produces better ecological benefits and should be given priority.