[Objective] This study aimed to identify possible quantitative trait loci （QTL） for vegetative drought tolerance traits of rice （Oryza sativa L.）. [Method] A total of 184 rice genotypes were field screened and 156 SSR markers randomly distributed at each 3 Mb bin were used through genome-wide scanning method and association analysis to detect QTLs for vegetative drought tolerance traits leaf rolling （LER）, leaf drying （LED） and drought recovery rate （DRR）. [Result] The experimental rice geno- types showed varied response under vegetative drought, LER, LED and DRR were highly correlated. Population structure was detected at K=3 and K=7, certain extent of admixture existed in the experimental rice genotypes, relative kinship of the rice genotypes ranged from 0 to 0.924 5. Significant linkage disequilibrium among SSR markers was detected. Sixteen SSR markers have been detected to be associated with vegetative drought tolerance traits, four for LER, eight for LED and four for DDR. Most of the markers were associated with more than one trait, indicating a single mechanism might involve in expression of several related traits, i.e. osmotic adjustment. RM107 （Chr.9） was associated with all the three traits and fell exactly within or closely nearby to previous reported regions, was a major QTL for vegeta- tive drought tolerance, RM477 （Chr.8） was significantly associated with DRR and ex- tremely significantly associated with LER was probably another major QTL for vege- tative drought tolerance. [Conclusion] Association mapping is a very effective method for describing complex traits like drought tolerance.