Abstract: Plant proteins feature merits including sustainability and low cost, making them priority plant-based raw materials for research and development in the modern food industry. Nevertheless, most plant proteins possess inferior functional properties such as solubility and emulsifying capacity, which restricts their extensive utilization in food processing. Physical modification avoids the use of chemical reagents, and features the strengths of friendliness, safety, high efficiency, and easy realization of large-scale production. This review systematically sorts out the action mechanisms of four major categories of physical modification treatments, namely thermal modification, electromagnetic modification, mechanical modification and other physical modification treatments, on the hierarchical structure of plant proteins. It summarizes the regulation rules of these technologies on functional properties including solubility, emulsifying capacity, gelling property and foaming capacity, and compares the strengths, weaknesses and applicable scenarios of different technologies. Meanwhile, this paper points out the existing deficiencies in current relevant research: ambiguous intrinsic interaction mechanisms between protein structure and functional properties, the absence of standardized process parameters, and insufficient industrial transformation of emerging novel technologies. Finally, the industrial application prospects of plant proteins are prospected, with the aim of providing a theoretical basis for the expansion of plant-protein applications in various fields through physical modification technologies.