Objective To analyze the epidemiological characteristics of common respiratory tract pathogens in children with acute respiratory tract infections (ARTI) in Hainan Province, and to provide reference for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of ARTI in children. Methods The children with ARTI who were hospitalized in several hospitals in Hainan Province from March 2012 to December 2021 were selected. The serum IgM antibody levels of influenza virus A (FluA), influenza virus B (FluB), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), adenovirus (ADV), parainfluenza virus (PIV), Mycoplasma pneumoniae (Mp), Chlamydia pneumoniae (Cp), Legionella pneumophila (Lp) and Q fever Rickettsia (COX) were detected by indirect immunofluorescence method. An infection with a pathogen was characterized as having an IgM antibody positive for it. The epidemiological and clinical data of respiratory tract infection cases were analyzed retrospectively. Results In this study, a total of 59312 children were eligible for inclusion, and the IgM positive detection rate of respiratory pathogens was 37.69% (22357/59312). Among the 22 357 IgM positive children, 28255 IgM positive times were found, of them, 35.23% were IgM positive rate for FluA, FluB, RSV, ADV and PIV (9953/28255). The top 3 pathogens were Mp, FluB and PIV, accounting for 86.54% (24451/28255), and the IgM positive rate was 28.58% (16953/59312), 9.50% (5636/59312) and 3.14% (1862/59312), respectively. Dual pathogens were detected in 4039 cases, and the most common combination was Mp and FluB. The detection rates of FluA, FluB, ADV, Cp and Lp were the highest in spring and the lowest in autumn. The detection rates of PIV, Mp and COX were the highest in summer and the lowest in winter. The detection rate of RSV was the highest in summer and the lowest in autumn. The positive detection rate of respiratory pathogen IgM varied between 2012 and 2021, with the highest being in 2013 (78.65%) and the lowest being in 2021 (15.72%). The differences between the years were statistically significant (P<0.001). Conclusions The prevalence of various respiratory pathogens in Hainan region has its seasonality. The corresponding protective measures can be formulated according to their epidemic characteristics to deal with the respiratory infection during the peak incidence season for children.