The rice starch-based films reinforced with waxy maize starch nanocrystal (SNC) is prepared by solvent casting method. The effects of SNC concentration on the mechanical properties, water vapor permeability, thermal stability and microstructure of rice starch blend films are investigated in this study. All tested SNC/rice starch film-forming solution show the shear-thinning behavior. The tensile strength (TS) of SNC/rice starch blend films are increased with the rising of SNC concentration from 0% to 5%. However, a significant decrease in TS of blend films is observed with an increasing SNCs concentration above 5%. It’s noticeable the opposite trends are observed for the WVP values of SNC/rice starch blend films. The SEM results show that the relatively homogenous dispersion of SNC is distinguished in 5% SNC/rice starch blend films, whereas SNC tend to form the large aggregations in blend films with addition of 15% SNC. Base on the X-ray diffraction experiment and thermogravimetric analysis, incorporating SNC into rice starch films significantly increased their crystallinity and thermal stability of SNC/rice starch blend films.