Soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration is one of the effective ways to mitigate global climate change, and large-scale vegetation restoration has profoundly changed this process. Clarifying the changes of soil carbon sequestration and its driving factors in the process of ecological restoration in fragile areas has important reference value for ecological management and carbon sequestration and emission reduction.In this study, we analyzed the changes of SOC sequestration and its driving factors during the process of vegetation restoration (planted forest, planted shrub and abandoned grassland) on the arid and semi-arid Loess Plateau by synthesizing 100 peer-reviewed publications (935 observations and 55 sites) published between 1992 and 2020. The results showed that 1) the rate of SOC sequestration for planted forest and shrub was 0.30 Mg C / (ha·yr), which was higher than that of abandoned grassland (0.10 Mg C / (ha·yr)). In addition, the rate of evergreen tree species (0.45 Mg C ha-1yr-1) was higher than that of deciduous tree species (0.33 Mg C / (ha·yr)), but the latter had higher SOC sequestration amount. After 51 years, the evergreen tree species may have greater carbon sequestration benefit; 2) The SOC sequestration rate increased with precipitation, but the change degree was affected by vegetation types and restoration years; 3) Regionally, SOC sequestration rate continued to increase (<30yr) and thereafter stabilized (>30yr). The average SOC sequestration rates in 0-10yr, 10-20yr, 20-30yr and >30yr were 0.02, 0.13, 0.19 and 0.18 Mg C / (ha·yr), respectively; (4) Overall, the main influencing factors of SOC sequestration was different in various restoration stages. Generally speaking, the SOC sequestration is mainly regulated by climatic factors (precipitation and temperature). The relative importance of precipitation, temperature, restoration age, vegetation types and initial SOC stock were 31.8%, 16.3%, 17.7%, 15.9% and 18.3%, respectively. Finally, we suggest that a sustainable ecological restoration model based on SOC sequestration rate and capacity should be established, and the amount and quality of vegetation should be increased through sustainable scientific management, which will effectively increase the amount of SOC sequestration in ecologically fragile areas.