Abstract: Inorganic salt and alkali additives, as food quality improvers, are widely used in the processing of starch-based food. Many studies indicated that the effect of this kind of food additives is mainly depended on its modification of starch's physical properties. Recent researches on the influence of inorganic salt and alkali on the gelatinization and retrogradation characteristics of starch, the rheological behaviour of starch paste and the texture of starch gel were reviewed, and the similarities and differences among the effects of various additives were analyzed in this paper. This work provides theoretical guidance for the reasonable selection of inorganic salt and alkali additives in the preparation of starch based food.