Drought is one of the most severe environmental stresses affecting plant growth and development. It has profound impacts on agriculture worldwide, causing enormous yield reduction and increasing production cost every year. Global climate change will likely worsen this situation in the future. Therefore, it is imperative for us to study the mechanisms of drought resistance and identify candidate genes that are useful for breeding drought-resistant and water-saving crops. Plants have evolved an array of different mechanisms to cope with drought stress and adapt to the changing environment. Here, in the context of our progress in drought-resistant crop improvement within the past decade, we briefly review the latest advances in plant drought resistance and potential applications in drought-resistant crop breeding in terms of drought avoidance and drought tolerance and discuss issues in drought resistance.