Aquatic plants are an indispensable part of the environment of rivers, lakes and coastal wetlands. The existence of plants changes the hydrodynamic conditions, thus affecting the suspension of sediment and the transport of pollutants. Starting from two hydrodynamic conditions of steady flow and wave, aiming at the flow resistance, flow structure, turbulent characteristics, characteristic velocity, wave attenuation coefficient, sediment movement and pollutant transport under the influence of flexible plants, the main domestic and foreign literatures are reviewed. The interaction mechanisms of vegetation-flow-sediment-pollutant under complex hydrodynamic conditions are proposed as the research focus and difficulty in the future.