Objective To explore the effects of different cold plasma pretreatment conditions on the drying characteristics and quality of goji berries and determine the optimal working parameters.Methods Fresh goji berries are pretreated with cold plasma under different conveying speeds (0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 20 and 2.5 m/min). The drying time, polysaccharides, total flavonoids, total phenols, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging capacity, color, and rehydration ratio are compared among different pretreatment groups.Results The cold plasma pretreatment improves the drying speed and shortens the drying time. The goji berries pretreated with cold plasma at the conveying speed of 1.5 m/min have the highest polysaccharides, total flavonoids, total phenols, and DPPH scavenging capacity, which are (103.18±0.84) mg/g, (5.35±0.04) mg/g, (10.46±007) mg GAE/g, and (43.27±0.31)%, respectively, after drying. Moreover, the dried goji berries exhibit the closest color to fresh samples and the highest rehydration ratio.Conclusion Cold plasma pretreatment can not only effectively shorten the drying time but also improve the drying quality of goji berries.