ERF transcription factors are widespread in plants, which are widely involved in plant response to biotic and abiotic stress. In this research, a gene GmERF8 encoding a new ERF protein was isolated using RT-PCR from soybean. GmERF8 consisted of an ORF (open reading frame) with a length of 627 bp , and encoded a 23.43 kDa protein with 208 amino acids. Bioinformatics analysis indicated that GmERF8 contained a typical AP2/ERF binding domain, two putative nuclear localization signal sequences and a conserved repression-associated EAR motif. The amino acid sequences of GmERF8 and NtERF3 shared high homology through phylogenetic analysis. Real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR results revealed that GmERF8 expressed highly in roots and leaves. The expression of GmERF8 decreased under ABA, salt and cold treatments. Whereas it decreased firstly and thereafter increased under ethylene and drought treatments. Transcription regulation experiments demonstrated that GmERF8 downregulated the transcriptional level of the reporter gene. As the result, GmERF8 may founctions as a transcriptional repressor in soybean to response to environmental stress.