Abstract: Fruits and vegetables are prone to rot and deterioration caused by microbial infection during storage and preservation, which seriously affects their shelf life, quality and safety, and causes large economic losses. Therefore, the research and development of natural preservatives with obvious bacteriostatic effect and high biological safety has always been the focus of scholars in the field of fruit and vegetable preservation. Limonene has been widely used in the field of fruit and vegetable preservation because of its broad-spectrum antibacterial activity and good safety. In this paper, the antibacterial mechanism of limonene and its application in fruit and vegetable preservation are summarized, and its future development direction is discussed in order to provide reference for further research and application of limonene in fruit and vegetable preservation and other foods.