Instant rice is a kind of convenient food, which is easy to eat, simple and quick. Instant rice not only conform to ours people’s habits of eating rice, but also meets the needs of the current fast-paced life, which has developed rapidly in recent years. With the further improvement of domestic fresh rice technology and equipment, the wet instant rice industry, such as frozen instant rice, aseptic instant rice, and short-shelf-life instant rice, will be further developed. This paper summarized the main factors affecting the quality of dry instant rice, including raw material varieties, processing precision, processing technology and conditions, and focused on the key technologies of industrial processing of fresh rice, including aseptic processing, high temperature sterilization, ultra-high pressure treatment, etc. The latest research progress of extrusion and recombination instant rice was also reviewed, and the existing problems and future development direction of instant rice were discussed.