Water is the main component of wheat flour dough. Its content, distribution, presence state, and state of existence moisture have an important impact on the processing characteristics, preservation and product quality stability of the flour dough. Wheat flour is composed of a variety of components such as protein, starch, fat, pentosan, minerals and etc. Wheat flour is mixed with water to form a dough, in which complex physicochemical changes occur. The composition and physico-chemical properties of the various components in the dough have an important influence. Therefore, understanding the changes of different components in the process of dough mixing with water is of great significance for the quality control and quality improvement of products. In this review, the research results in related fields in recent years were classified and summarized, the interaction mechanism between different components in wheat flour and with water molecules was systematically analyzed, the water absorption and water holding characteristics of different components of wheat flour were discussed, and the effects of different components of wheat flour on water distribution and migration were analyzed. This paper concluded the key ingredients that determine the moisture migration and product quality of dough, such as protein, starch, damaged starch and pentosan etc., in order to further guide the production of wheat flour products.