The carbon cycle is a crucial biochemical process that constitutes the mechanism of carbon turnover, circulation, and storage in the Earth’s system. During this process, litter, as one of the main sources of soil organic carbon pools, has a significant impact on the dynamic processes of the global carbon cycle. Based on the Web of Science Core Collection literature, 2,600 publications on the influence of litter on the carbon cycle published from 1990 to 2023 were visualized and analyzed using VOSviewer software. The majority of publications (72.31%) appeared between 2012 and 2023. The United States is at the center of the international collaboration network, with the highest level of collaboration with China, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The Chinese Academy of Sciences is the most productive organization, and Yiqi Luo is the most published Chinese scholar. The top three core journals in the field are Soil Biol. Biochem., Glob. Chang. Biol., and Ecology. There are differences in research hotspots at different stages. Currently, the hotspots are “enzyme activity”, “microbial community”, “bacteria”, “inter-root”, “soil temperature sensitivity”, “Loess Plateau”, “carbon storage”, and “organic carbon turnover”. Meta-analysis showed that litter significantly enhanced soil total nitrogen, soil respiration, soil organic carbon, soil moisture, pH, and β-glucosidase activity. The results of the study indicate that related topics, such as the regulatory mechanisms of litter and the carbon cycle and the expression of functional genes, are becoming potential frontiers for future research, providing a perspective for future innovation research.