AbstractCold is a typical environmental stress factor that limits the geographical distribution and growth of various plants. It affects crop quality and productivity. In the contemporary years, with the plant cold‐resistant genetic engineering development, great progress was obtained in this field. This paper gave a general statement about the development of plant cold resistantance on the level of unsaturated fatty acids, protective enzymes, functional genes and regulation genes, aiming to provide some useful information and ideas to researchers who work on plant cold breeding and the mechanism of cold resistance. As research continues, we could develop further multiple resistant plant species.