Abstract: The compound modified starch was prepared from the areca taro native starch which was processed by ball-milling combined with octenyl succinic anhydride. The structure and pasting properties of compound modified starch were studied by scanning electron microscopy, infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, rapid visco-analyser (RVA) and so on, and were compared with the areca taro native starch, esterified and ball-milling modified starch. The result indicated that the granules and crystal structure of esterified starch did not change significantly, but the infrared spectroscopy showed that new absorption peaks were at 1725 cm^-1 and 1572 cm^-1 respectively. Besides, compared with that of native starch, the gelatinization temperature of the compound modified starch decreased and the peak temperature decreased from 81.77℃ to 78.83℃ while the paste viscosity of it increased and the peak viscosity increased from 597.67 mPa·s to 2066.33 mPa·s. Moreover, not only did the ball-milling starch particles were broken noticeably, but the crystal structure was damaged severely as well. In addition, the gelatinization temperature of the compound modified starch decreased and the peak temperature was 72.14℃.Furthermore, the paste viscosity of it decreased and the peak viscosity was 296.33 mPa·s. The compound modified starch granules were liquated and seriously damaged, and the degree of substitution was increased from 0.01756 to 0.01994 compared with that of the esterified starch, which suggested a higher degree of esterification. Its gelatinization temperature was the lowest and the peak temperature was 65.69℃;paste viscosity was the highest and the peak viscosity was 5063.67 mPa·s. To sum up, the compound modified starch has better low-temperature gelatinization and thickening properties, and broad application prospect.