The temporal and spatial changes of crop planting structure in Jiangsu province from 1980 to 2020 were analyzed by using quantitative mathematical statistics, rapid cluster analysis and geographical system spatial analysis. The results showed that, the crop planting area and grain planting area had generally shown a downward trend in the past 40 years, the planting area of wheat and rice had showed a trend of decreasing wave, the proportion of planting decreased significantly in 2002, and then increased slightly. However, the economic crops such as fruits and vegetables had maintained an increasing trend in the past 40 years. The planting area of corn, soybeans and oil crops had a small change. In the past 40 years, there have been 14 types of planting combination patterns, and wheat and rice were in the leading position in the spatial distribution of planting and planting types. The types of economic crops had increased significantly since 2000. In the past 40 years, the temporal and spatial changes of the crop planting structure in Jiangsu Province had changed significantly. Analyzing and grasping the characteristics of the changes can provide a decision-making basis for the optimization of the crop planting structure in Jiangsu Province.