At present, there is no clear principle and basis for the structural design of artificial reefs. This paper expounds the basic principle of artificial reef structure design from the point of view of flow field effect, biological effect and shelter effect, illustrates the relevant basis and methods with examples, and summarizes and analyses the construction mode and future development of artificial reef area suitable for different types of sea area, in order to provide reference for the structural design of artificial reefs and the planning of marine ranching.