Soil is one of the important sources of N₂O emissions. Soil N₂O production pathway is numerous and regulated by variety of factors, in-depth analysis of soil N₂O production pathway can adopt targeted emission reduction strategies. Stable isotope technology has been widely used to the study of soil N₂O emissions, N₂O isotope method is an emerging research method in recent years. This method analyzes N₂O emission contribution by measuring the isotope composition of soil N₂O (δ¹⁵N^SP_N2O, δ¹⁸O_N2O and δ¹⁵N^bulk_N2O), because not need to add markers, little interference to soil system and low in cost, it is suitable for field research on N₂O emissions and is a powerful supplement to ¹⁵N labeling method. This paper introduces in detail the principle of N₂O isotope method, mass spectrometry method and quantitative analysis method, the factors affecting the method and its application prospect.