Phosphorus (P) limitation to microorganisms is increasingly recognized in soils, but how the limitation mediates the metabolic processes of microbes driving soil carbon (C) release remains unclear. Here, we performed a 60-day incubation experiment adding two ¹³C-labeled organic C sources (glucose and straw) at five inorganic P addition levels in loess with low available P from the Loess Plateau, China. The nutrient limitations of microbes were quantified by enzymatic vector analysis, associated with soil respiration, microbial metabolic quotient (qCO₂), C use efficiency (CUE) and priming effect (PE) at both early (10 days) and late (60 days) stages of incubation. Results showed that reducing microbial P limitation increased CO₂ release from soils by 19–26% and from labeled glucose and straw by 12% and 29%, respectively. This indicated that soil P limitation overall constrains rather than promotes microbial C metabolism. A negative relationship between relative C and P limitations at the first 10-day incubation further indicated that added P (decreased P-acquiring enzyme activities) stimulated microbial C metabolism (increased C-acquiring enzyme activities) under enough C source. Whereas a positive relationship at 60-day incubation suggested that high microbial heterotrophic respiration under high P addition alleviate their C limitation. Furthermore, both multiple regression and partial least squares path models indicated that an increase in CO₂ release with P and C additions at early incubation was due to two processes, i.e., increasing available P promoted decomposition of native soil organic C due to PE as well as decay of added organic C by increasing qCO₂ and decreasing CUE. At late incubation, however, P addition increasing decomposition of native soil C via PE is the dominated control on CO₂ release under C limitation. We conclude that microbes are dominant by maintenance rather than growth metabolism in loess with low phosphorus availability, whereas the pathways of the metabolism driving C release depend on soil C availability. Our findings suggest that microbial P limitation has considerable positive effects on soil C sequestration in these ecosystems with low soil P availability.