This paper presents a mathematical description of the failure law of anisotropic properties from the following three aspects. Firstly, a generalized nonlinear failure criterion, revision Matsuoka-Nakai-Lade-Duncan (RMNLD) criterion, is proposed, which can describe a series of failure curves via von Mises and spatial mobilized plane (SMP) criterion on the partial plane. Secondly, a new stress tensor with a fabric tensor is proposed to describe the particle arrangement characteristics of rock or soil materials in 3D space, and it can be adapted to express the anisotropic RMNLD. Finally, the mapping relationship from anisotropic RMNLD to isotropic von Mises criterion was established on the deviatoric plane. The validity and feasibility of the proposed anisotropic RMNLD criterion and stress transformation method are experimentally verified.