Dystonia is a type of movement disorder disease characterized by abnormal movements and postures, which seriously affects patients' social life and quality of life. However, there are certain difficulties in positioning judgment of early intervention, efficacy analysis and prognostic evaluation at present. Resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI)is an advanced technique for measuring the brain's spontaneous nerve activity at rest. It is widely used in the study of dystonia due to its advantages of non-invasiveness, simplicity and ease of use, and diverse analysis methods. Studies have shown that dystonia is not simply a basal ganglia dysfunction, but a neural network disorder. This article briefly describes the principle and clinical application of rs-fMRI, focusing on the research progress of rs-fMRI in various dystonia diseases, which will help to further understand the pathogenesis of focal dystonia to provide functional imaging basis for the development of more effective therapeutic drugs.