[Objective] To study the effects of starane on maize soil bacterial diversity.[Methods] We analyzed composition and structure of bacterial communities in maize soils from the control and spraying herbicide of different periods by Illumina MiSeq high-throughput sequencing of the V4-V5 region of the 16S rRNA gene.[Results] We received a total of 260940 effective sequences, 167191 high-quality sequences and 12656 OTUs. The soil bacterial diversity and abundance decreased after 10 days of starane treatment, whereas the soil bacterial diversity and abundance increased after 60 days of starane treatment. Bacterial community composition analysis shows that the dominant phyla in five soil samples were Acidobacteria, Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi and Gemmatimonadete. After 10 days of starane treatment, the ratio of Acidobacteria increased in herbicide treated soil, whereas the ratio of Actinobacteria and Chloroflexi decreased. After 60 days of starane treatment, Proteobacteria decreased, Chloroflexi increased obviously.[Conclusion] Starane affected maize soil bacterial diversity and its impact varied with the application time.