Abstract: To identify suitable preceding crops for water-saving and drought-resistant rice in mountainous and hilly areas, we examined three preceding crop treatments including potato, rapeseed and wheat, used fallow as the control, and systematically analyzed their effects on soil fertility and the photosynthetic characteristics, leaf area index, and yield of subsequent water-saving and drought-resistant rice. The results showed that potato and rapeseed as preceding crops significantly increased soil nutrient content and enzyme activity, markedly enhanced the photosynthetic indices and leaf area index of subsequent water-saving and drought-resistant rice, and ultimately improved yield. Based on comprehensive scoring of soil fertility and crop physiological trait indicators, potato received the highest score as a preceding crop. It primarily boosted soil available phosphorus, available potassium, and the activities of urease, sucrose and acid phosphatase, demonstrating the most significant effects in optimizing photosynthetic performance and increasing leaf area index for subsequent crops, thereby effectively enhancing the yield of water-saving and drought-resistant rice. Compared to fallow, the potato preceding treatment significantly increased porosity, alkali hydrolyzable nitrogen, available phosphorus, available potassium, and organic matter by 4.53 percentage points, 16.20%, 18.32%, 32.47% and 8.65%, respectively. The activities of urease, sucrase, acid phosphatase, cellulase and catalase significantly increased by 61.11%, 25.84%, 31.88%, 17.99% and 55.34%, respectively. Additionally, SPAD, net photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, transpiration rate and leaf area index at the heading stage significantly increased by 9.28%, 22.11%, 39.02%, 46.69% and 46.82%, respectively, while yield increased by 18.99%. Therefore, potato is recommended as an optimal preceding crop for water-saving and drought-resistant rice in mountainous and hilly regions.