Plant residues are an important source of soil organic matter. An increasing attention has been paid on the successional pattern of microbial community structure during decomposition of plant residues. In this article, it is reviewed factors that have significant influence on the microbial community structure and function. These factors mainly include properties of plant residue, soil and climate factors and agricultural practices, which affect diversity of microbial community through influences on both activities of microbe and chemical composition changes of plant residue during its decomposition process. The impacts of these factors are not isolated, but interrelated and conditioned. In addition, microbial communities have shown obvious patterns with decomposition of residues. Furthermore, profoundly researches, especially under field conditions, are needed on successional pattern of key microbial community as well as interaction mechanism of different factors.