A review is presented of the nucleic acid extraction methods and the subsequent nucleic acidbased analysis applied in the study of soil microbial diversity. It is important to study microbial diversity not only for basic scientific research, but also for a better understanding of the relation between diversity and community structure and function. It is, therefore, essential to master and comprehend appropriate, reliable and accurate methods for studying soil microbial diversity. Traditionally, the analysis of soil microbial communities used to depend on culturing techniques. The inability to culture most of the microbes from soil samples is a fundamental obstacle to understanding soil microbial ecology and diversity. Other methods such as the community-level physiological profiling (CLPP), analysis of phospholipid fatty acids (PLFA) and nucleic acid-based methods are now used to mea sure a greater proportion of the soil microbial community. Nucleic acid-based methods include molecular fingerprints pattern based on PCR technique, nucleic acid hybridization, DNA microarrays technology and so on. These methods open up new approaches to measuring soil microbial diversity and help update understanding of soil microbial community and diversity. Given the current state of knowledge, the authors feel that the best way to study soil microbial diversity would be to use a variety of tests different in endpoints and degree of resolution to obtain more information regarding the microbes, which will eventually enhance our knowledge about soil microbial diversity.