The gelation properties of low salt tilapia surimi produced by different washing processes were investigated. The result showed that washing had great effects on the gelling properties of low salt tilapia surimi. The highest gel strength was obtained by conventional washing treatment, followed by alkaline saline washing method and the unwashed method, respectively. The higher gel forming ability was generally associated with both the lowered TCA soluble peptide content and the protein solubility of all kinds of surimi gels. The SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS PAGE) revealed the higher myosin heavy chain (MHC) band intensity in conventional washing process. Microstructure of gels that received washing treatments showed more compacted network structure than the unwashed one. Therefore, the application of conventional water washing treatment could effectively improve the properties of low salt gel products from tilapia.