Effects of air packaging and modified atmosphere packaging on the quality of fresh beef during postmortem aging was studied using vacuum packaging as control treatment. Six left side of longissimus dorsi muscles of yellow cattle were precooled at 4 ℃ for 24 h. After 24 h postmortem, beef samples (2.54 cm thick) were trimmed and mixed, and randomly divided into three groups. The beef samples were stored for 4 d, 7 d and 10 d in dark refrigeration house at 4 ℃ to mimic commercial storage conditions. At the end of each point, the meat color, tenderness, purge loss, centrifuge loss, cooking loss and the state of moisture distribution were determined immediately to evaluate the effect of different packaging methods on beef quality during postmortem aging. The results showed that the cooking loss of samples from air packaging and modified atmosphere packaging was not different significantly compared to vacuum packaging (P＞0.05), while the purge loss of samples from air packaging and modified atmosphere packaging was significantly different (P＜0.05). Air packaging and modified atmosphere packaging presented better improvement on CIE a^* values and higher population of free water and lower tenderness compared to vacuum packaging (P＜0.05). In conclusion, air packaging and modified atmosphere packaging could improve the color of beef samples compared to vacuum packaging. However, air packaging and modified atmosphere packaging could not improve the tenderness and the state of moisture distribution.