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Large-scale vegetation restoration in China's Loess Plateau has been initiated by the central government for controlling soil and water losses in the past three decades. However, there is virtually no guidance for plant species selection for the restoration purpose. We investigated the effects of planting trees and shrubs, land-use conversions from croplands to pastures and native grasslands on soil water dynamics and water stresses by using long-term field measurements from 1986 to 1999 in the semi-arid loess hilly area. Our research has led to the following three major findings. Firstly, the amount of soil water storage within a 100 cm depth decreased as measured at both the beginning and the ending point of growing seasons regardless land cover types. The soil water replenishment by rainfall during rainy seasons was not sufficient to fully recharge the soil water storage. Landscape restoration through shrub planting may help retain more soil water than other land cover types. Secondly, the ratio of actual evapotranspiration (0) and pan evaporation (PET) generally declined for all land cover types during the study period. Shrub lands had the largest ET/PET ratio, followed by native grassland, cropland/alfalfa, and pine woodland. The ETIPET ratio of native grasslands declined fastest, followed by pine woodlands, shrub lands, alfalfa, and croplands. Pine woodland's low ETIPET ratios were mainly caused by its higher runoff due to soil compaction resulted from soil desiccation. Lastly, we found that the soil water storage at the beginning of growing season was important in determining the ETIPET ratios. This study suggested that pine plantations may not be appropriate for landscape restoration in such a semi-arid loess hilly area while shrubs may be highly recommended. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.