Summary: In this paper, the effects of pressure on starch properties were summarised and discussed. Firstly, high pressure can decrease the relative crystallinity of starch. After a 600 MPa treatment for 10–30 min, the relative crystallinity is reduced by about 37.1% on average. Meanwhile, high pressure can transform the A‐type or C‐type crystal into B‐type crystal. The destruction of high‐pressure treatment to starch crystalline structure is mainly achieved by disturbing the regular arrangement of double‐helixes, instead of directly destroying the double‐helix structure. Secondly, high pressure showed different effect trends on pasting and thermal properties of different starches. In most cases, the enthalpy of starch would become 0 after a 600 MPa treatment for 10–30 min. Thirdly, high pressure can increase retrogradation rate by 1.12–1.81 times. Fourthly, high‐pressure treatment increases the G′, G′′, apparent viscosity and yield stress of starch gel, and has different effect trends on flow behaviour index and consistency coefficient of different starches. Fifthly, high pressure can increase the RS content, up to 466.7%. This paper can provide reference for the application of high‐pressure technology in starch processing and modification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]