This dataset contains information on soil microbial communities, soil physicochemical properties, forest structural and environmental characteristics across a contiguous area of forest that has undergone contrasting logging disturbance and restoration in Sabah, northern Malaysian Borneo. Sampling was conducted as part of a study investigating soil microbial community responses to either active restoration (enrichment planting) or passive restoration (natural regeneration) of selectively logged forest, relative to old-growth soil microbial communities. This work was supported through the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Human Modified Tropical Forests Programme (Biodiversity and Land-use Impacts on Tropical Ecosystem Function (BALI) consortium [NE/K016253/1]), ENVISION Doctoral Training Scheme [NE/L002604/1] and NC International Programme [NE/X006247/1]. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/08bfe302-d33f-490d-97be-27bb83a0f38d