Robinia pseudoacacia has been widely planted in the Loess Plateau of China for soil and water conservation. The growth decline of R. pseudoacacia plantations has become a recently emerging challenge for the revegetation program and sustainable forest management in this region. As to the scientific definition,identified criteria and quantitative indices have not yet been comprehensively quantified,our current understanding of the ecological and physiological mechanisms for growth decline of R. pseudoacacia plantations is limited. The knowledge could enrich the basic theories of vegetation restoration and benefit the sustainable development of the afforestation project in the Loess Plateau. Through the comprehensive compilation of literatures on forest decline and tree mortality in the Loess Plateau and other regions across the world,this review summarized the mechanisms and recent research progress on growth decline for R. pseudoacacia plantations in the Loess Plateau,primarily demonstrated from ecological (e.g.,climatic change,soil desiccation,the imbalance of community structure and the misconduct of forest management) and physiological (e.g.,hydraulic failure,carbon starvation,genetic and molecular regulation) perspectives. Finally, we highlighted the research gap with regard to growth decline of R. pseudoacacia plantations in the Loess Plateau.