Biochemical properties of a soil sample may reflect the ecology and environment of the sampling area at the time when it was collected. So soil samples are of ultra-important scientific research value. For various research purposes, soil samples, before use, need certain pretreatment and storage for a certain period of time, which may last for several days or even over a hundred years. Quite a number of large-scale soil sample banks have been established the world over, storing various types of soil samples, which are of significant application value. It is essential for usage of the long-stored soil samples to ensure whether their biochemical properties change during their storage process. In this research, changes in soil biochemical properties relative to storage conditions were summarized, including soil elements, soil nutrients, soil metabolic activities, pH, soil microbes, soil enzymes and soil pollutants. The research found that the contents of soil carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and metal elements remained almost unchanged in the soil samples during their storage; that information about soil microbial community structure and DNA/RNA sequences could still be extracted from the soil samples; that persistent organic pollutants, hardly degraded, could exist in the samples for long; and that although soil enzyme activities decreased with the storage going on, the differences between the enzymes in activity were preserved. Therefore, long-stored soil samples are still valid for analysis of element contents, microbial communities, DNA/RNA sequence, soil organic pollutants and soil enzyme activities for comparison study. However, contents of readily available nutrients and soil metabolism-related indices varied irregularly during the storage, which indicates that only fresh soil samples can be used for analysis of these indices like nitrate nitrogen, ammonium nitrogen, exchangeable cation and soil respiration rate. Soil samples for long-term storage should be air-dried and then kept in sealed glass bottles at room temperature. There are several issues that matter in the use of long-stored soil samples: 1) Avoiding environmental contamination when soil samples are collected and analyzed; 2) Adopting suitable biochemical analysis methods to guarantee stability and reliability of the measurements; and 3) Considering the differences existing in effect of storage on soil samples relative to soil type. With analytical technology developing on and on, more and more historical environmental information will be excavated from the long-stored soil samples, which will yield higher scientific values.