With global warming and frequently extreme weather,waterlogging has become one of the major disasters in agriculture, which causes serious economic losses. Plant has developed couples of strategies to cope with waterlogging stress. Ethylene is the most important signal in response to waterlogging. Here we reviewed the progress in the biosynthesis of ethylene under waterlogging stress, the key genes and regulatory mechanism of ethylene signal transduction pathway,the interaction between ethylene signal and hypoxia signal,and ethylene signal-mediated morphological adaptation. We also put forward the prospects of research on mechanisms of ethylene mediated waterlogging tolerance. The review can provide theoretical guidance for the regulation of waterlogging tolerance and the breeding of waterlogging tolerant varieties.