As key tools to explore the path to sustainable development, the theoretical research frameworks of social-ecological system (SES) have become increasingly important. However, so far, there is still a lack of clear understanding of using the social-ecological theoretical research frameworks to interpret the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This paper firstly outlined the main research frameworks for social-ecological systems, and then used bibliometric software and visualization methods to systematically analyze the status and characteristics of socio-ecological system researches for SDGs according to the literature reviews. The results show that SDG1-No poverty, SDG2-Zero hunger, SDG8-Decent work and economic growth, SDG13-Climate action, and SDG14-Life below water are the hot goals among the current researches, involving multi-scale typical systems such as agriculture and forestry, freshwater, ocean, urban and rural, showing significant characteristics of interdisciplinarity, data diversification and method integration. There is relatively little study on SDG4-Quality education, SDG5-Gender equality, SDG7-Affordable and clean energy, and SDG10-Reduced inequalities. The research hot spots of SDGs are closely related to the stage of national development. There are few studies on the relationship among multiple goals based on the social-ecological system perspective. Researches in this field mainly provide supporting services for SDGs: analytical framework, achievement assessment, trend forecasting, and management decision-making. In the future, it is urgent to strengthen the following four aspects: (1) research on SDGs correlation based on the perspective of social-ecological systems; (2) building a social-ecological system framework tailored to local conditions; (3) SDGs-oriented research on the dynamic feedback mechanism of social-ecological systems; (4) discipline integration and data platform construction. This paper provides an important reference for exploring the implementation path of SGDs suitable for China.