Abstract: The disease caused by Rhizoctonia solani (R. solani) is a serious threat to crop production. This review focuses on the recent progress on the interaction mechanism between R. solani and plants. It first describes the genetics, pathogenic biology, pathogenesis, and then elaborates the defense response of plants to R. solani, including physical and chemical defense mechanisms, cell surface receptors and intracellular receptors mediated immune response, and resistance hormone mediated defense. In addition, it summarizes current research methods and proposes future research directions. The paper can provide theoretical basis for further revealing the interaction mechanism between plants and R. solani.