In arid central Asia (ACA), sparse vegetation and low taxonomic diversity pose challenges for traditional pollen analysis in reconstructing palaeovegetation and palaeoclimate. This study is based on a sampling transect that longitudinally traverses the uninhabited hinterland of the Taklamakan Desert, where 64 surface soil samples were systematically collected along a 500-km environmental gradient to establish a modern pollen dataset covering desert, transition zone, and oasis environments. Our findings indicate that traditional clustering methods struggle to effectively differentiate vegetation types in arid regions mainly due to the over-representation of Chenopodiaceae and Artemisia pollen. Consequently, this study establishes a new quantitative indicator based on the sum of the relative abundance (RA) of Tamarix and Ephedra pollen and defines clear thresholds for the reliable identification of oases from deserts (oasis >26.3%, desert <14.1%). By innovatively employing a pairwise comparison approach, a diagnostic flowchart was constructed to distinguish among seven arid vegetation subtypes. Comparative analysis clearly demonstrates that large-scale pollen databases exhibit significant reconstruction errors in the azonal regions of eastern ACA, underscoring the necessity of developing regional calibration datasets tailored specifically to arid environments. This work not only provides a rare surface pollen data across the desert but also offers new quantitative methodologies for investigating palaeoenvironmental changes and the evolution of ancient civilizations in the ACA. Furthermore, it provides critical methodological insights for palaeoecological research in other azonal arid regions worldwide.