The functional properties including water binding capacity, foam capacity and emulsion capacity for catfish skin gelatin were investigated in this paper. The results showed that the water binding capacity of gelatin firstly increased and then decreased with the increase of ionic strength. Due to the macromolecule and the hydrophilicity of gelatin, the foam capacity was worse than that of tween 80. The foam capacity of gelatin increased with the increase of concentration, while decreased with the time. Meanwhile, the gelatin emulsion was O/W type, and the emulsion capacity was the same with tween 80 according to the results of micro-morphology. With the increase of concentration, the emulsion activity index (EAI) of gelatin increased from 29.32 to 39.33 m2/g, while emulsion stability index (ESI) decreased to 19.27 min. Salting-in effect benefits the increase of EAI in the gelatin, while salting-out effect and electrostatic interaction decreased ESI. Meanwhile, both EAI and ESI of gelatin decreased to the minimum value when pH was close to pI. Due to desorption and aggregation, EAI and ESI of gelatin decreased gradually when the temperature exceeding 30 ℃. The functional properties of catfish skin gelatin could provide the theoretical guidance for the application in food industry.