Abstract: To explore the characteristics of the plankton community in Xishan Island waterway network of Taihu Lake and its main influencing factors, 34 typical sampling points were investigated from October to November in 2020. The results show that a total of 68 species of phytoplankton belonging to 56 genera were identified. The main phyla was Chlorophyta (39.71%), followed by Bacillariophyta (30.88%) and Cyanophyta (13.24%). The average abundance of phytoplankton was 1.32×10⁶ L^-1, and Cyanophyta was the dominant phyla. Waterways in urban areas had the highest phytoplankton abundance, followed by waterways in agricultural areas and aquaculture areas. Moreover, 30 species of zooplankton belonging to 18 genera were identified, with the dominating species as Rotifera (76.67%). The average abundance of zooplankton was 113.93 L^-1. Waterways in aquaculture areas had the highest zooplankton abundance, followed by waterways in urban areas and agricultural areas. The redundancy analysis revealed that oxidation-reduction potential, chemical oxygen demand, total nitrogen and ammonia nitrogen concentration were the main factors affecting the phytoplankton community structure. While water temperature, pH value, chlorophyll-a concentration, phytoplankton abundance and ammonia nitrogen concentration were the primary influencing factors to the zooplankton community structure.