Gas chromatography-ion migration spectrometry (GC-IMS) is one of the newly developed volatile components detection technologies in recent years， and its application in the analysis of food volatile components is gradually expanding. In order to understand the research status of GC-IMS technology in the field of aquatic product processing and storage， this paper expounds the principle and characteristics of GC-IMS technology by analyzing relevant domestic and foreign literature reports， and focuses on its application progress and development trend in the field of aquatic product processing. The results showed that GC-IMS could determine product freshness， product shelf life， variety quality， grade classification， processing technology optimization and origin identification by detecting volatile substance changes. The application of GC-IMS technology in aquatic product processing is developing from a single technology to a joint application direction with electronic nose， GC-MS and olfactory instrument， which can represent the profile information of volatile substances in aquatic products from multiple angles and provide technical reference for guiding aquatic product processing and storage as well as quality control.