•We analyze the theoretical framework for land consolidation boosting poverty alleviation.•The mechanisms and paths behind land consolidation China’s poverty reduction are explored.•Land consolidation can help to promote rural development, increase farmers’ income and reduce poverty.•Land consolidation has social, economic and ecological benefits.•The third-party assessment of the whole process of land consolidation is urgently needed. Regional impoverishment is an external manifestation of unbalanced human-land relationship in specific areas. The important role of the full utilization of land resources in alleviating the man-land contradiction has been gradually recognized. As one of the most prominent poverty-stricken countries in the world, China has been innovating the way of land use to alleviate poverty. Under the background of land system innovation, land consolidation is an instrument to alleviate poverty. This study first analyzed the mechanism and path behind land consolidation boosting poverty alleviation, then systematically reviewed the evolution of China’s land policies related to poverty alleviation since 1978, and finally explained the successful practice of land consolidation boosting poverty alleviation through a typical case study. Results show that land consolidation has multi-functional characteristics. Land consolidation has played an active role in increasing cultivated land area, promoting agricultural production scale, improving rural production conditions and living environment, alleviating ecological risk and supporting for rural development. It also helps to create employment opportunities, promote the capitalization of land resources, widen the way for farmers to increase their income, solve the predicament of lack of land, technology and funds faced by the development of poor areas and revitalize rural economy, thus contributing to rural development and poverty alleviation. Nevertheless, third-party assessment of the whole process of socio-economic and ecological impacts of land consolidation is still needed. Decision-making of land consolidation needs to take full account of different stakeholders’ interests and bottom-up participation is also necessary. These findings will provide beneficial reference for making-decision for sustainable land use and effective poverty alleviation in other developing countries.