Objective To investigate the association between living habits and depressive symptoms among the elderly population in China. Methods A total of 8 543 elderly individuals with an age of 60 years or above who were included in the 2020 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study（CHARLS） report were enrolled as subjects. The 10-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale（CES-D） was used to assess depressive symptoms，and five living habits （smoking，alcohol consumption，exercise，social interaction，and nighttime sleep） were extracted as independent variables. The chi-square test was used for univariate analysis，and then a multiple linear regression analysis was used to investigate the association between living habits and depression with depression score as the dependent variable. Results Among the 8543 subjects，3470（40.62%） exhibited depressive symptoms. The multivariate analysis showed that smoking，never drinking alcohol（95%CI= 0.290-0.875，P<0.001），nighttime sleep for <6 hours（95%CI=1.655-2.261，P<0.001），and a lack of exercise（95%CI=0.126-0.597，P=0.003） were risk factors for depression. On the contrary，smoking cessation（95%CI=-0.657-0.067，P=0.110），never smoking（95%CI=-0.695-0.006，P=0.054），good sleep（7-8 hours）（95%CI=-0.495-0.160，P=0.054），drinking less than once a month（95%CI=-0.085-0.829，P=0.110），and social behavior（95%CI=-0.454-0.006，P=0.056） were protective factors against depression. Conclusion Compared with genetic factors，the intervention for living habits provide practical pathways for the prevention of depression in the elderly. Healthy living habits，such as smoking cessation，regular exercise，moderate social engagement，and sufficient sleep，are effective ways to reduce the risk of depressive symptoms. Future studies are needed to explore the long-term impacts of these factors and consider broader social，psychological，and physiological aspects.