We investigated plant functional traits and the factors affecting restoration success in forest communities that had been restored both by natural regeneration and enrichment plantations, in abandoned shifting-cultivation areas within the tropical montane forests in northern Thailand. Sampling with three different forest management areas: primary forest, secondary forest, and enrichment plantations. We found that trees within primary forest tended to have relatively heavier wood and larger seeds than secondary forest species. The seedlings of the species with high leaf toughness, large leaf mass area, and wood density tended to be more sensitive to environmental conditions. Species with larger seeds tended to have a more limited recruitment that enrichment plantations were more suitable for these species. Our results suggest that the restoration of primary forest by natural regeneration is difficult because it is prevented by both environmental conditions and recruitment limitation. The contribution of these factors was species-dependent, which could be partly predicted by their functional traits.