Utilization of different carbon source type in Biolog-GN microplates by soil microbial communities under different forest restoration types was studied. The results shows that metabolic capacity of soil microbial commuinty under natural secondary forest are higher than those of three plantations. Carbohydrates, carboxylic acids and amino acids are the main carbon sources possessing higher utilization efficiency or utilization intensity. At the same time, the three carbon source types contributed to the differentiation of soil microbial communities from four forest restoration types. And the three types of carbon sources were sensitive to change of soil microbial communities. These results possessed important referenced significance for substrate selection during the study on soil microbial communities and their functional diversity with incubating methods.