With the problem of shortage of water resources becoming increasingly prominent, the improvement of production efficiency of agricultural water resources in China has become an important research content of modern irrigated agriculture. The technology of activated irrigation water provides a new way to excavate the physiological production potential of irrigation water and improve the comprehensive efficacy of irrigation water in agro-ecosystems. In this study, the research progress of the variable characteristics of physicochemical properties of activated irrigation water, the transport and transformation of soil material by activated irrigation water, and the promotion of crop growth by activated irrigation water were comprehensively analyzed. On this basis, according to the basic theories of soil physics, crop physiology, and material transport dynamics, the effects of activated irrigation water on soil material transport, soil material transformation, water and nutrition uptake by root, and crop yield formation and the probable pathway were analyzed. The key problems of basic science and applied technology in the future research are put forward to provide reference for the scientific and reasonable utilization of activated irrigation water technology.