1991年7月獲中國科學技術大學理學碩士。1991-1996年在中國科學技術大學任教。1997年2月由德國馬普學會資助赴哥廷根大學訪問研究。2001年1月獲德國哥廷根大學理學博士學位。2001年至2006年任哥廷根大學地學中心研究員。2004年兼任中南大學客座教授。2006年起任中國科學技術大學教授，博士生導師。長期從事超高壓變質作用研究；運用礦物微區分析、流體包裹體、痕量元素和同位素地球化學等研究手段，深入探討了大陸深俯衝過程中的流體地球化學行為及某些特定痕量元素和同位素等物質運移的機制。已在Geochim Cosmochim Acta, J Petrol，Contrib Mineral Petrol, J Metamorphic Geol， Lithos等國際及國核心心期刊上發表論文40餘篇（SCI收錄34篇）。已發表論文SCI引用930餘次，其中第一作者論文SCI引用190餘次；是Chemical Geology, Contributions to Minearlogy and Petrology, Lithos, American Mineralogist 等國際一流地學期刊的特約審稿人。
代表性論文
Xiao Yilin, Romer Rolf, Hoefs Jochen et al. (2007) Li and B isotope characteristics of ultrahigh pressure metamorphic rocks from Sulu, China. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 71:1132.
Xiao Yilin, Sun Weidong, Hoefs Jochen et al. (2006) Making continental crust through slab melting: Constraints from niobium-tantalum fractionation in UHP metamorphic rutile. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 70:4770-4782.
Xiao Yilin, Zhang Zeming, Hoefs Jochen et al. (2006) Ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic rocks from the Chinese Continental Scientific Drilling Project: II Oxygen isotope and fluid inclusion distributions through vertical sections Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 152:443-458.
Zhang Zeming, Xiao Yilin, Hoefs Jochen et al. (2006) UHP metamorphic rocks from the Chinese Continental Drilling Project – I. Petrology and geochemistry of the main hole (0-2050m). Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 152:421-441.
Xiao Yilin, Hoefs Jochen and Kronz Andreas (2005) Compositionally zoned Cl-rich amphiboles from North Dabie Shan, China: Monitor of high-pressure metamorphic fluid/rock interaction processes. Lithos, 81:279-295.
Romer Rolf and Xiao Yilin (2005) Initial Pb-Nd-Sr isotopic heterogeneity in a single allanite-epidote crystal: implications of reaction history for the dating of minerals with low parent-to-daughter ratios. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 148:662-674.
Zhang Zeming, Xiao Yilin, Liu Fulai et al. (2005) Petrogenesis of UHP metamorphic rocks from Qinglongshan, southern Sulu, east-central China. Lithos, 81:189-207.
Xiao Yilin, Hoefs Jochen, van den Kerkhof Alfons M. et al. (2002) Fluid History during HP and UHP Metamorphism in Dabie Shan, China: Constraints from Mineral Chemistry, Fluid Inclusions, and Stable Isotopes. Journal of Petrology, 43:1505-1527.
Xiao Yilin, Hoefs Jochen, Kerkhof Alffons M. van den et al. (2001) Geochemical constrains of the eclogite and granulite facies metamorphism as recognized in the Raobazhai complex from North Dabie Shan, China. Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 19:3-19.
Xiao Yilin, Hoefs Jochen, Kerkhof Alfons M. van den et al. (2000) Fluid history of UHP metamorphism in the Dabie Shan, China: a fluid inclusion and oxygen isotope study on the coesite-bearing eclogite from Bixiling. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 139:1-16.
