Rice is one of the most important crops worldwide. In recent years， with the improvement of life quality， people have paid more attention to the taste of rice. Endosperm is the main component of rice grain， which provides energy for seed germination and embryo development. Starch accounts for about 80% in rice grain. Unlocking the molecular mechanism of starch synthesis becomes of theoretical significance and application value in improving rice quality. Although the general pathway of starch synthesis has been relatively illustrated， this process is still complicated considering the genetic and environmental interaction under field conditions. Due to the difficulty of phenotypic identification， it is hard to genetically map and isolate the genes/QTL affecting rice quality. Mutants defected in starch synthesis obtained by physical and chemical mutagenesis were mostly controlled by single nuclear gene mutation and usually showed floury endosperm due to changes of starch grains morphology or loosely packed starch filling in rice. The mutated genes could be cloned by population construction using homozygote obtained through generational breeding. In recent years， scientists have basically cloned many genes participating in multiple biological processes using these mutants， perfected the regulation pathway of starch synthesis. This paper summarizes these starch synthesis related mutants isolated in recent years， and discusses different metabolic pathways involving in starch synthesis， which expects to provide reference for rice breeding and quality improvement.