Abstract: Lakes provide important freshwater resource for regional development. Climate change and human activities significantly affect the spatial and temporal distribution of water resource at the global scale. Consequently, frequent floods and droughts occur in lake catchments, impacting local water security and aquatic ecosystem health. Lake catchment is a relatively independent geographic unit, and thus, has been used as an ideal area for hydrology research. Focusing on several new hydrological issues in the 21st century, this article reviewed up-to-date hydrology research status in topics including extreme hydrological events, hydrological impacts of land cover changes, integrated modelling of lake catchment, evolution and future projection of water resource availability of lake catchment. Exemplified in Poyang Lake catchment, a large freshwater lake in the middle Yangtze River, research gaps are identified and future directions are suggested. This article may enrich the research context of catchment hydrology and limnology, and may be of reference value to the future development of relevant science disciplines.