Since the 1960s, soil microbiology underwent major changes in methods and approaches and this review focuses on the developments in some selected aspects of soil microbiology. Research in cell numbers of specific bacterial and fungal groups was replaced by a focus on biochemical processes including soil enzyme activities, and flux measurements of carbon and nutrients. Ecologists focused on soil microbial pools whereas soil microbial biomass as an important source and sink of nutrients were recognized in agriculture. Soil microbiologists started to use structural components like phospholipid fatty acids for quantification of specific microbial groups without the need to cultivate them. In the last decade, molecular approaches allowed new insights through the analysis of soil extract DNA showing an unexpected diversity of genomes in soil. At the end of the review a brief outlook is given on the future of soil microbiology which ranges from in situ identification of bacteria, to routine assays of microbial communities by microarray technology.