Tea production currently faces the critical problems of pest damage and pesticide contamination, and therefore are in urgent need of sustainable pest management strategies. Ecologically-based pest management is one way of reducing pesticide use while maintaining high yields. This is achieved by constructing an ecological environment that provides important ecosystem services, including supporting natural enemy populations to enhance the biological control of pests. In order to effectively implement ecologically-based pest management in tea plantations, pest species and their natural enemies have been extensively identified, while the abundance and diversity of natural enemies, their population dynamics and their natural capability to control pests have been well documented. There has also been considerable research on how to manipulate habitats to better maintain and enhance populations of the natural enemies with the goal of achieving long-term sustainable regulation and control of pests in tea plantations. This paper reviews recent research advances on the use of biodiversity in tea plantations to regulate pests, in order to provide both a theoretical basis and practical guidance for improving ecosystem functions and services, and promote the application of ecologically-based pest management strategies in tea plantations.