Pruning is an important measure for the aging of artificial Caragana intermedia in the desert steppe. It is a systematic understanding of the physiological and ecological response processes and their changes after the pruning of C. intermedia. The study sets a comparative observation plot to and using unpruned C. intermedia (WPC) as a control, and photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance, intercellular CO₂ concentration, water use efficiency of C. intermedia were treated that continuously grown for 1 to 5 years (PC1-PC5). The photosynthetic physiological characteristics and the effects of soil water content and distribution were analyzed. The results showed that: (1) the effect of pruning treatment on the physiological characteristics of C. intermedia was different due to the increase in the number of pruning years. The photosynthetic rate and transpiration rate of PC1 and PC2 were slightly higher than that of WPC, and PC1 was in the active period of compensatory growth, and its water use efficiency was significantly higher than that in other pruning years of C. intermedia. The water use efficiency of C. intermedia in PC2 began to decrease. The transpiration rate, photosynthetic rate and stomatal conductance of PC3 and PC4 increased significantly, reached the maximum value in PC4 as well as the corresponding water use efficiency gradually recovered. Pruning measures had a greater impact on the intercellular CO₂ concentration of C. intermedia in PC1 and PC5. (2) The water status of C. intermedia in PC1 was lower than that of other pruning years because the soil water content was significantly reduced by canopy closure at 0-100 cm; the soil water of C. intermedia in PC2 was slightly improved and it of C. intermedia in PC3 and PC4 was significantly increased, and the soil water status of C. intermedia in PC5 was gradually closer to that of WPC C. intermedia. (3) With the increase in the number of pruning years, there is a dynamic relationship between photosynthetic characteristics and soil water content of C. intermedia. The soil moisture of PC1 is slightly decreased, and the growth slowed down. The soil profile water content of C. intermedia in PC2 gradually recovered, and the growth rate of soil water content of C. intermedia in PC3 began to decline and the physiological indexes increased. The physiological indicators and soil water content of C. intermedia in PC4 reached its highest value. The indicators of PC5 began to decline. In summary, PC4 treatment is the inflection point of photosynthetic physiology and soil water response of C. intermedia, which can be used as a time node for optimal management of pruning C. intermedia.