Nutrients in litters and soils, amount of microorganisms and activity of enzymes in soils of plantations of Cunninghamia lanceolata, Pinus massoniana, Pinus elliottii, Acacia mangium and Eucalyptus urophylla similar in geographic conditions were studied using soil chemical analysis, dilution flat and enzyme analysis methods in order to get a better understanding of influences of some main tree species in South China on soil fertility.The soils of the five plantations were rather strong in acidity.Among the five plantat ions, the Cunninghamia lanceolata plantation had the largest amount of litters, which were also rather rich in nutrient reserve, about 94.08 kg hm^-2.Consequently, its soil fertility was relatively high, with soil organic matter, total N, total P, total K, alkali-hydrolyzable N, available P and available K being 25.54 g^-1, 0.96 g^-1, 0.37 g^-1, 12.04 mg^-1, 64.42 mg^-1, 1.87 mg^-1, 41.88 mg^-1, respectively.However, the soil was low in amount of microorganisms.Pinus massoniana and Pinus elliottii litters were low in nutrient content, and their soils were resultantly low in nutrient contents and soil fertility.The Acacia mangium plantation effectively improved soil chemical properties and its litters had the highest nutrient reserve among the five plantations, about 106.2 kg hm^-2.Its soil fertility was the highest among the five plantations, with organic matter, total N, total P, total K, alkali-hydrolyzable N, available P and available K reaching 23.42 g^-1, 0.93 g^-1,1.28 g^-1, 15.29 mg^-1, 69.32 mg^-1, 1.98 mg^-1and 76.88 mg^-1, respectively, and its amount of soil microorganisms and activity of enzymes were also great.The soil in the Eucalyptus urophylla plantation was high in K, but low in soil organic matter, N, P, amount of soil microorganisms and enzyme act ivity, and thus resulting in low soil fertility.