Red blood cell transfusion is one of the most widely used treatments in clinical transfusion and an important part of life‑saving and fluid resuscitation. It is often used in patients with severe anemia, hemorrhagic shock and severe trauma. It plays an important role in medical emergency protection. Although the current preservation method prolongs the preservation time of red blood cells and improves the quality of preservation. With the prolongation of storage time of red blood cells in vitro, it will cause physiological, biochemical, and morphological changes, resulting in adverse effects of blood transfusion. How to improve the quality of red blood cell preservation has always been a hot spot in medical research. The research advances of storage of red blood cell protection is summarized in this review.