This study took the rural elderly in Anhui Province as the research object， analyzed the current situation of depressive symptoms and explored the risk factors， which provided a reference basis for the decision?making work. The method of multi?stage random sampling and household survey was used， 3 349 rural elderly （≥ 60 years old） in Anhui were investigated by general demographic and geriatric depression scale （GDS）. The results showed that the prevalence of depressive symptoms was 52.9%， among which 62.3% and 47.6% were in poor group and non?poor group， respectively； GDS score was 12. 40 ± 7.09, and the poor group （14.05±6.93） was higher than the non?poor group（11.47±7.01）。Logistic regression analysis showed that the detection rate of depression with poverty， increasing age， female， illiterate/semi-illiterate， no occupational status， not living alone， more kinds of chronic diseases， having lived in hospital within one year and having physical discomfort within two weeks was higher； compared with the farming elderly， the detection rate of depressive symptoms of migrant workers and self?employed workers was lower. There were differences in the influencing factors of depression symptoms between the poor group and non?poor group. The prevalence of depressive symptoms of rural elderly in Anhui Province was higher，the prevalence of depressive symptoms in the poor elderly was higher than that in non?poor elderly. Depressive symptoms were related to many factors， which should be paid more attention and given more psychological intervention to the elderly.