Abstract: In order to study the roof structure characteristics and support technology of gob-side entry retaining, based on the thin plate theory of elastic mechanics, the roof hanging plate structure model of gob-side entry retaining was established, and the principal stress expression of hanging plate under two boundary conditions was deduced. The stress proportional coefficient was constructed as the failure criterion of thin plate, and the composite support technology of cable-stayed anchor cable and super high water material was developed. The results show that the roof can form a suspended plate structure when the advanced pre-splitting roof cutting is carried out in the process of gob-side entry retaining with bolt-mesh-anchor support. With the movement of the overlying roof, the structure can form two kinds of suspended plate forms : one side simply supported and one side free and one side clamped and one side free. Under the action of mine pressure, the failure parts of the two kinds of hanging plates are different, which can be used as the basis for arranging the roof cable-stayed anchor cable. The roof cable-stayed anchor cable has suspension and horizontal extrusion effect on the suspension plate. The field test results prove the reliability of the theoretical analysis.