Abstract: Water-holding capacity (WHC) is an important quality attribute of meat, which affects the color, juiciness and tenderness of meat. Drip loss is often used as a measure of WHC. Excessive drip loss after slaughter causes a certain amount of economic losses to the meat industry. Therefore, studies on WHC of meat are important for the meat industry. As the main component of muscle cells, cytoskeleton proteins plays a critical role in maintaining the integrity of cell structures and functions, which has effect on the WHC of meat. In this paper, the physiological and biochemical properties of recently identified cytoskeleton proteins and their effects on meat WHC were reviewed. This study further discussed the factors and mechanisms affecting degradation of cytoskeleton proteins in order to provide theoretical reference for the control of WHC of meat.