Farmland quality construction is a strategic requirement for ensuring food security in China. There is an urgent need to address issues such as soil acidification, salinization, infertility, and declining biological functions for medium to low-yield farmland, in order to comprehensively enhance farmland productivity in China. Based on long-term observation, research, and demonstration, the Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences has clarified the evolution rules and degradation control mechanisms of soil quality for major cultivated soil types such as fluvo-aquic soil, red soil, and saline-alkaline soil, and developed the theories and technical systems for farmland quality cultivating in different agricultural areas. For fluvo-aquic soil, the formation mechanisms of the internal stability for soil fertility through the synergetic linkage among organic matter, aggregate, and microbe were clarified, the sensing equipment for monitoring farmland soil and crop information were developed, and the models to integrate the construction of fertile cultivated layer and the balanced enhance of crop yield at large-scale were established. For red soil, the mechanisms for inhibiting soil acidification by improving acid buffering capacity and microbial keystone taxa-driven nutrient transformation were revealed, the technologies for synergistic inhibition and resistance of soil acidification and biological fertility cultivation of soil macro-aggregates were developed, and the ecological modes for farmland quality and productivity enhancement in Jiangxi Province were classified and established. For saline-alkali soil, the nitrogen migration and conversion processes associated with soil water-salt management were clarified, the synergistic mechanism and key technologies of salinization obstacles reduction and nutrient enhancement were developed, the soil accelerating fertility cultivation mode and the soil salinization ecological remediation mode were innovated for the coastal region and Hetao Irrigation District respectively. Future research should focus on farmland quality investigation and construction management, farmland soil obstacle remediation and productivity improvement, and soil health management and ecological protection. We need to break through the technical bottleneck for soil obstacle remediation, develop a series of conditioners and biological fertilizer products, improve the implementation rate of regional management modes, and finally establish a systematic solution for improving farmland quality and sustainably utilizing farmland resources in China.