The Jilantai Salt Lake (JSL), a lake of importance due to its salt production in China since the early Qing dynasty, is surrounded by sand dunes. Exploration of the development of these sand dunes will be helpful for identifying the forces underlying the desert landscape and for identifying a solution to protect the salt resources. Through field investigation, we found sand dunes overlying either lacustrine and bog deposits on the lake bed at a lower altitude or littoral sediments on the higher lakeshores. Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating results indicate that sands started to accumulate around the JSL as early as the early Holocene (around 11 ka), while the rapid development of sand dunes occurred within the latest 0.1 ka. By comparison with climatic documents and human activities in adjacent regions, the initiation of sand accumulation around the JSL as early as the early Holocene is considered to be the result of low effective moisture in the Jilantai area. However, the rapid development of the sand dunes in the vast area surrounding the JSL was likely initiated by the intensified human activities which occurred within the latest 0.1 ka under warm and dry climatic conditions.