Biological water saving is one of the major fields of water saving agriculture in the future and has an enormous potential in agricultural production. In this paper, the necessity and urgency of developing high water use efficiency in plant biology were dissertated firstly, and the research progresses at home and abroad were reviewed as following aspects: mechanisms of drought resistance and high water use efficiency, criterions for identifying and evaluating drought resistance and water use efficiency, genetic improvement for drought resistance and water use efficiency, water saving irrigation technology based on the physiological regulation and control in crop plants. Major problems in the research field at present were put forward, and development tendency of water use efficiency in plant biology in the future were also discussed. Biological water saving is one of the major fields of water saving agriculture in the future and has an enormous potential in agricultural production. In this paper, the necessity and urgency of developing high water use efficiency in plant biology were dissertated first, and the research progresses at home and abroad were reviewed as following aspects: mechanisms of drought resistance and high water use efficiency, criterions for identifying and evaluating drought resistance and water use efficiency, genetic improvement for drought resistance and water use efficiency, water saving irrigation technology based on the physiological regulation and control in crop plants. Major problems in the research field at present were put forward, and development tendency of water use efficiency in plant biology in the future were also discussed.