In recent years, the connection of rivers and lakes has attracted wide concern from the scholars and society. In order to fully and objectively know the research status and development path of connection of rivers and lakes in China, the temporal distribution, authors and institutions distribution, and current research hotspots and future research trend of the connection of rivers and lakes in China are analyzed based on the data source of CNKI from the perspective of bibliometrics by use of visual graph software CiteSpace. The results show that the researches on the connection of rivers and lakes in China witness three stages of exploration, rapid increase and stable increase. Zhengzhou University and China Renewable Energy Engineering Institute of the Ministry of Water Resources of P. R. China have published the most papers which are highly cited and are two important institutions in this field. The research hotspots in this field are as follows: connection, connection of rivers and lakes, structure of water system, graph, allocation of water resources, and improvement of water quality. The predicated in-depth researches in this field in the future will include influences of connection projects of rivers and lakes, evaluation and analysis of connectivity of rivers and lakes and connection techniques of rivers and lakes. This study will be helpful for the relevant scholars and decision-makers.