Aggregates, as the basic unit of soil structure, play a fundamental role in ecosystem function such as soil stability and fertility. Wetting-drying cycle is the most common environmental factor affecting the properties of soil aggregates, particularly soil aggregate stability. This paper reviewed the research advances in soil aggregates affected by wetting-drying cycle over the past 70 years, and summarized the characteristics of soil aggregate size distribution, dynamics of water stability, influential factors and their function mechanisms. In addition, this review compared the different methods in measuring soil aggregate stability in the last 80 years. Although different soil types were investigated by studies focusing on soil aggregates affected by wetting-drying cycle, most of the studies were conducted focusing on soil system individually and few on influential mechanisms across ecosystems. In addition, because of the difference between study methods, the obtained results are diverse and lacking of comparability. This review also proposed several perspectives in future studies: 1) dynamics of soil aggregate distribution and formation affected by wetting-drying cycle in fragile ecological zones; 2) the influences of wetting-drying cycle on migration and transformation of heavy metals and toxic chemicals during the turnover of soil aggregates; 3) the application of computed tomography (CT) in studying soil aggregates; 4) the interaction between plant community and soil aggregates.