Aboveground and belowground biota interact intimately and influence the terrestrial ecosystem process together. Numbers of studies have revealed that the aboveground herbivorous insects can not only influence the aboveground parts of vegetation and other animal communities, but also exert indirect strong effects on belowground biota community and ecosystem process, which may further feedback to aboveground ecosystems. To gain a better understanding of the effects of aboveground herbivorous insects on soil ecosystem and the associated mechanisms, this review summarized the effects of aboveground herbivorous insects on soil biota at different trophic levels of soil food web and the relevant soil nutrient dynamics, discussed the pathways through which the insects affect soil ecosystem and the regulatory factors, and also proposed the future research directions.