Abstract: As a renewable and degradable natural resource, cellulose has been widely used in various fields. However, the formation of strong intra- and intermolecular hydrogen bonds induced a high crystallinity of cellulose, restricting the practical application of cellulose. This review mainly presents the basic information of cold plasma technology, the effects of cold plasma on the structures (morphological structure, aggregation structure and molecular structure) and properties (dissolution and thermal stability) of cellulose, and application of cold plasma in cellulose-based materials (cellulose-based aerogels/hydrogels and cellulose-based films/paper). It is concluded that the cold plasma can effectively modify cellulose and improve the properties of cellulose-based materials. However, the effect of cold plasma mainly depend on the cellulose raw materials, cold plasma generation types and treatment conditions.