Food preservatives are widely used in the food industry for their broad antibacterial spectrum and strong antibacterial properties. While the effects of dietary food preservatives on the gut microbiota and host health have been studied, a systematic review is lacking. In this paper, the latest research on food preservatives and the gut microbiota is reviewed. It has been found that food preservatives affect lipid metabolism, immunity and intestinal inflammation by altering the diversity of the gut microbiota and regulating the abundance of conditioned pathogens and beneficial bacteria. The future research trends are also discussed. Through this review, we hope that the ‘food preservatives-gut microbiota-host health’chain can arouse the attention of researchers and readers, and provide a new perspective for the existing safety evaluation system of food preservatives, which may be of guiding significance for the maintenance of human health.