In order to improve the gel properties of low-salt surimi, the optimum conditions for the low-salt silver carp surimi gels by ultra-high pressure processing (UHPP) were obtained by means of response surface methodology (RSM), with the gel strength and water holding capacity (WHC) as indicators. The gel properties (texture, gel strength, WHC, protein pattern and microstructure) of the optimized low-salt surimi (1.5% NaCl, 300 MPa), low-salt surimi (1.5% NaCl, 0.1 MPa) and the standard percentage of added salt of surimi (2.5% NaCl, 0.1 MPa) were compared. The results showed that the optimum conditions of low-salt silver carp surimi gels by UHPP were 300 MPa and 25 ℃ for 10 min. Meanwhile, compared to the low-salt surimi gels (1.5% NaCl, 0.1 MPa) (203.92 g·cm), the gel strength of the optimized low-salt surimi (1.5% NaCl, 300 MPa) increased by 26.04%, and reached 258.24 g·cm. Moreover, it was significantly higher than that of the standard percentage of added salt of surimi gels (2.5% NaCl, 0.1 MPa) (214.87 g·cm) (P＜0.05), and the WHC was also significantly increased (P＜0.05). The UHPP treatment significantly enhanced (P＜0.05) cohesiveness and resilience of low-salt surimi gels. The myosin heavy chain (MHC) band intensity of low-salt surimi gels by UHPP weaken obviously, and the gel network structure was also more denser and uniform. Therefore, the UHPP technology could effectively improve the quality of low-salt silver carp surimi gels, which provided a good method basis for the subsequent development of low-salt surimi by UHPP.