Abstract: Constructed wetlands (CWs) have been widely used in the treatment of micro-polluted water and rural decentralized domestic sewage due to their low cost and environmental friendliness. However, in low-temperature environments (<15 ℃), the mass transfer process slows down, and the efficiency of some physical and chemical reactions in the wetland decreases. The microbial activity and metabolic rate decline, resulting in a significant deterioration of the treatment performance of CWs, which becomes a key limiting factor for its widespread application. This article summarizes the common types of substrates (natural minerals, industrial by-products, and artificial materials, etc.) used in CWs, as well as the research progress on using substrates to enhance CWs under low-temperature conditions.The results show that the complementary matrix combinations will, while performing their respective functions, selectively enrich specific functional microorganisms, promoting microbial diversity, thereby enhancing the functional stability and treatment performance of CWs in low-temperature environments. Appropriate substrate types and performance enhancement can not only maintain strong physical adsorption capacity in low-temperature environments but also effectively change the redox conditions through chemical reactions, effectively enhancing the activity and function of microorganisms in low-temperature environments, achieving the synergistic enhancement of system performance. However, current research on strengthening CWs with substrate materials still faces problems such as high economic costs, insufficient operational stability, and difficulties in maintaining microbial activity. From the perspective of practical application, it is proposed that in the future, a deeper understanding of the metabolic adaptation mechanisms of low-temperature functional bacteria should be achieved, new composite substrates with low-temperature catalytic functions should be developed, the design of multi-level CWs treatment systems should be optimized, and a full life cycle evaluation should be conducted in combination with regional climate conditions, in order to enhance the governance efficiency of CWs in cold regions.