Abstract: Rhizosphere soil fauna is an important component of soil organisms, playing active roles in the transformation, storage and release of nutrients, the regulation of soil microbes, and the changes of soil physical and chemical properties, and finally, affecting the plant growth and its productivity. This paper reviewed the roles of soil fauna in rhizosphere soil ecosystem, the interactions between rhizosphere soil fauna and microbes, and the effects of rhizosphere soil fauna on plant growth, and approached the problems to be urgently solved in the researches of rhizosphere soil fauna and its effects on plant growth. The future related research directions needed to be strengthened were proposed as well.

Key words: species composition, population structure, exotic species.