Salt accumulation in arable lands causes significant abiotic stress, resulting in a 10% loss in global arable land area and jeopardizing food production and agricultural sustainability. In order to attain high and sustainable food production, it is imperative to enhance traditional agricultural practices with modern technology to enable the restoration of arable lands afflicted by salinity. This review consolidates recent rice-specific advancements aimed at enhancing salt stress resilience through integrated strategies. We explore the functions of primary and secondary metabolic pathways, organic amendments, microbial symbiosis, and plant growth regulators in reducing the negative impacts of salt. Furthermore, we highlight the significance of emerging genetic and epigenetic technologies, including gene editing and transcriptional regulation, in developing salt-tolerant rice cultivars. Physiological studies reveal salt stress responses in rice plants, biochemical analyses identify stress-related metabolites, microbial investigations uncover beneficial plant–microbe interactions, and molecular approaches enable the identification of key genes—together providing essential insights for developing salt-tolerant rice varieties. We present a comprehensive overview of the multilayered strategies—ranging from agronomic management and physiological adaptations to molecular breeding and microbial applications—that have been developed and refined over recent decades. These approaches have significantly contributed to understanding and improving salinity tolerance mechanisms in rice. This review provides a foundational framework for future research and practical implementation in stress-resilient rice farming systems.

Soil salinization stands out as a major factor contributing to the shrinkage of arable land. This study explored the salt tolerance mechanism of tillers in CMG and 9311 by evaluating morphophysiological, transcriptomic, and metabolomic characteristics under 0.3% NaCl stress. The activities of SOD, POD, and APX in the tiller nodes of the salt-tolerant variety CMG were higher than those of 9311, while the levels of MDA and hydrogen peroxide in the tiller nodes of CMG were relatively low. Both varieties responded to salt stress mainly by activating pathways such as amino acid metabolism (alanine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid metabolism, and arginine biosynthesis), amino acid acyl-trNA biosynthesis, oxidative phosphorylation, and phenylpropanin biosynthesis. The varieties differed in that CMG tillering nodes also have unique pathways of “glycerophospholipid metabolism” (related to membrane lipid remodeling) and “biosynthesis of the cuticle, suppositories and waxes”, which can effectively reduce water loss and prevent sodium ions from entering. In addition, CMG can regulate more plant hormone signaling pathways to coordinate the expression and metabolic activities of downstream defense genes, such as abscisic acid (ABA) and jasmonic acid (JA), and other hormone signals. After salt stress, the CMG tiller nodes tend to strengthen themselves, enabling them to resist stress and reduce Na⁺ toxicity, while the 9311 tiller nodes, under the condition of activating basal metabolism, transfer to the leaves to enhance photosynthetic efficiency and resist stress. Through comprehensive screening and analysis of the genes and metabolites of CMG and 9311 tillers under salt stress, the molecular mechanisms and metabolic pathway dynamics involved in their salt stress response were identified, thus providing a new perspective for in-depth research on rice salt tolerance mechanisms.