Revegetation is one of the most effective means to prevent and control soil desertification. To investigate effects of revegetation on soil respiration in the Tengger Desert, the technique of Li-6400-09 soil respiration chamber was adopted in measuring soil respiration rates of an area revegetated in 1989 and a shifting sand area, and the root-partitioning techniques in separating rhizospheric respiration from soil basal respiration. Results show that soil CO₂ efflux was significantly affected by the vegetation restoration. The total soil respiration rate was found be significantly increased from 0.107±0.008 μmol m^-2 s^-1 to 0.483 ± 0.033 μmol m^-2 s^-1 and obvious seasonal fluctuation of the rate was observed. The revegetation not only greatly enhanced rhizospheric respiration rate, but also dramatically increased basal respiration rate through improving soil surface environment, capturing dust, and developing cryptogamic crusts. Furthermore, the patchy distribution of shrubs and spatial heterogeneity of soil nutrients in the revegetated area led to spatial heterogeneity of the soil respiration therein .