Plant phenolic acids are widely distributed in the plant kingdom, mainly divided into two categories: hydroxybenzoic acid and hydroxycinnamic acid, with good biological activity. Starch, composed of amylose and amylopectin, has unique structural and functional properties. After the interaction between plant phenolic acids and starch, the excellent properties of plant phenolic acids are not only transferred to starch, but also modified to further enhance the edible value of starch. This paper has described the interaction mechanism between plant phenolic acids and starch, including non-covalent and covalent binding promoted by physical, chemical and enzymatic methods, and the regulation of their interactions by physical, chemical and biological techniques, and these interactions affect the key properties of starch, such as gelatinization, retrogradation, digestion, swelling, and rheology. These findings not only laid a theoretical foundation for the development of functional foods, but also pointed out the direction for further research on the health benefits and molecular mechanism of plant phenolic acids.