Whether the development of human society is in harmony with the environment is related to the well-being of human beings and the health of the ecosystem, which is a core issue of sustainable development. Because the research on the coupled human and natural systems involves multiple fields, such as environment, economy, culture, energy and society, and the interaction between human and nature is constantly strengthened after the advent of Anthropocene, the research on “coordinated development of human and nature” develops rapidly, and a large number of research achievements continue to emerge. However, relevant quantitative analysis is insufficient, and there is a lack of timely cognition of the research status. A bibliometric study based on the Web of Science core collection (WoSCC) database was performed in this article. With the help of VOSviewer visualization software, a systematic analysis was carried out on 6088 publications from various countries in the field of coupled human and natural systems from 1994 to 2023, aiming to catch the research trends and hotspots. The activity index (AI) and attraction index (AAI) were used to evaluate the research effort and academic impact of different countries in this field, and the global research progress and dynamic changes in the research on coupled human and natural systems were discussed. The findings are as follows: (1) According to the annual number of published papers, the research process in this field was divided into three stages. The three stages were named as the initial stage (1994—1999), fluctuating growth stage (2000—2008), and rapid development stage (2009—2023), respectively. The number, scale, and methods of research have been constantly improving with the time. (2) After 2017, China’s research effort in the field of coupled human and natural systems showed a trend of rapid increase, but the academic influence and international cooperation still needed to be strengthened. (3) Ecosystem protection, restoration, and management under the background of urbanization have been the research focuses since 2019. In the future, more attention should be paid to the research and development of multi-factor and multi-system coupling analysis methods, frameworks and models in medium and large scales. At the same time, taking coupling mechanism between elements and systems as the scientific foundation, we should build an integrated management model of natural, economic, and social systems with nature protection as the root, high-quality social development as the goal, and policies and institutions as the important means. In addition, the practical application of coupling theory and method should be strengthened, and the coupling theory should be validated, optimized and summarized with examples. The results can provide reference for the formulation of relevant strategies, plans, and policies for the coordinated development between human and nature.