Abstract: The littoral zone of the Yangtze River mainstream has a very important ecological role for macrozoobenthos. However, the status of water quality biology assessment in the riparian zone of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River is not yet known, and the influence of macrobenthos by shoreline use type deserves further investigation. In order to assess the aquatic ecological environment in the littoral zone of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, this study conducted a sampling survey of macrobenthos and water environmental factors at 53 representative sample sites along the river in May 2017. The distribution of bivalves, gastropods, mollusks and polychaetes in the middle and lower reaches riparian zone varied greatly, related to salinity, flow velocity, attached substrate and sediment grain size. The Biological Pollution Index (BPI) shows that the water bodies in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River are in mild-moderate pollution, and the anomalously low BPI values near the mouth of the estuary may be related to the massive growth of polychaetes and Limnoperna fortunei. The results of non-metric multidimensional ranking (NMDS) analysis showed that macrozoobenthos was more significantly affected by ammonia nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, phosphate, chlorophyll a, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs).It also suggested that Corbicula fluminea, Novaculina chinensis, L. fortunei, Bellamya aeruginosa, Semisulcospira cancelata, Stenothyra glabra and Macrobrachium nipponense were distributed in wetlands and natural bank sections while Chironomid larvae and oligochaetas were in urban and estuary sections. The distribution of the macrozoobenthos community structure was constrained by the utilization types and physicochemical factors, which provided a scientific basis for the survey and assessment of shoreline resources and for the management and protection of aquatic ecosystems in the Yangtze River Economic Zone.