Abstract: That the exogenous ethylene (20-100mg/L ) not only significantly increased survival percentage of maize seedlings to drought stress,but also increased content of chlorophyll and water potential was reported;exogenous ethylene enhanced proline contents and activity of SOD and POD during drought stress in maize seedlings.On the contrary,exogenous ethylene decreased cytomembrane permeability.This indicated that exogenous ethylene enhanced drought resistance of maize seedlings,suggesting protecting cytomembrane from damage by increasing proline contents and activity of SOD and POD that resulted in enhancing drought resistance of maize seedlings.