In this paper, the effects of different durations of jet cavitation treatment (2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 min) on the structure and physicochemical properties of soy protein isolate (SPI) was studied by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy,fluorescence spectroscopy, the Lowry method, and the fluorescent probe 8-anilino-1-naphthalene sulfonate, and the underlying molecular mechanism was determined. The results showed that the secondary structure of SPI changed with the prolongation of jet cavitation time, and the β-sheet structure gradually transformed to α-helix, and the polarity of the microenvironment of tryptophan residues increased. The solubility, emulsifying capacity, oil-holding capacity and surface hydrophobicity were significantly increased with jet cavitation time (P © 2020, China Food Publishing Company. All right reserved.