Rice is one of the most important food crops in China, whereas the eating and processing quality of rice are seriously compromised by high chalkiness. Rice chalkiness is mainly controlled by heredity but also affected by environmental factors. Reducing rice chalkiness content is an important goal for rice breeding. In recent years, a large number of genetic mechanisms related to chalkiness has been discovered by researchers. The nearest research progress of genes related to rice chalkiness and their genetic characteristics in recent years was reviewed from pathways of energy production, energy material distribution, starch synthesis and amyloplast accumulation structure in the paper, thus providing a reference for mechanism study of rice chalkiness formation and genetic improvement of rice quality.