The developing history of rice breeding for maximum yield was reported in the paper. Several kinds of rice breeding theories for maximum yield and their breeding goals and methods were summarized here. It was regarded that it was the main direction of rice breeding for maximum yield to breed maximum yield varieties with inclined-big panicle, middle tillering ability, high seed set rate, and high panicle formation rate, high stress-tolerance, ecological adaptability and vigorous root system by using, specially creating middle type material through hybrid between Japonica and Indica, making full use of superior breed resources, and combining ideal plant type breeding with utilization of vigor.