In order to explore the restoration of forest resources after the implementation of forestry ecological projects such as Grain for Green Project in the residual gully region of the Loess Plateau, the calculation was based on the DEM data of the Loess Plateau and the normalized vegetation index NDVI data from 2000 to 2020. The calculation of topographic factors, hydrological analysis, spatial overlay analysis, etc, were used to divide the relatively complete range of the residual gully region of the Loess Plateau area. The trend analysis and coefficient of variation were used to analyze the characteristics of the temporal and spatial changes of NDVI in the residual gully region of the Loess Plateau area. The results showed that: (1) The residual gully region of the Loess Plateau area spanned three provinces of Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Gansu, covering an area of approximate 29 900 km², and the gully density was between 1.91~3.21 km/km². (2) The NDVI of residual gully region of the Loess Plateau area varied with time, the total average NDVI value of the region for 21 years was 0.711, and the change trend of vegetation NDVI in this area from 2000 to 2020 showed a fast-slow-fast growth. In terms of spatial distribution, the vegetation coverage was generally in the range of NDVI value 0.6~0.9. The vegetation coverage in the central part of the study area was higher than those of other areas in the study area. (3) In terms of temporal and spatial trend characteristics, the vegetation coverage in the western and eastern parts of the study area had improved significantly, and the vegetation coverage in the central area of the study area was relatively stable. In terms of temporal and spatial fluctuation characteristics, the vegetation NDVI in this area fluctuated steadily in time series, and the difference in spatial fluctuation was large, and the area of low fluctuation area accounted for 48.06%. On the whole, the residual gully region on the Loess Plateau was mainly distributed in three provinces: Shanxi, Shaanxi and Gansu. From 2000 to 2020, the NDVI of vegetation in this area showed an overall upward trend. The overall vegetation coverage level was relatively high with low fluctuations, and showed a trend of improvement. These results could provide theoretical and scientific basis for soil and water conservation in the residual gully region on the Loess Plateau.