Objective To explore the difference of white matter volume between depression patients with or without suicidal ideation， and those of healthy control group. Methods A total of 60 inpatients with depression in the Depressive Disorder Department of Shenzhen Kangning Hospital were enrolled from January to August 2021. The patients were divided into depression group with suicidal ideation （n=30） and depression group without suicidal ideation （n=30） through the score of Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation （BSSI）. 30 healthy controls were also selected as control group （n=30）. Structural magnetic resonance scanning was performed within one week after admission for all depression inpatients. In addition， the degree of depression and anxiety was assessed by Hamilton Depression Rating Scale （HAMD-17） and Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale （HAMA）. Pearson correlation was used to analyze the correlation between the volume of different brain regions and HAMD- 17 score， HAMA score and total course of disease. Results There was statistically significant difference in the relative white matter volume of the three groups （F=3.173， P＜ 0.05）. The relative volume of white matter in the depression with suicidal ideation group was smaller than that in the healthy control group ［（32.35±1.80）cm3 vs （33.50±1.96） cm3 ］. The difference is statistically significant （P＜ 0.05）. The white matter volume of superior cerebellar lobe （right cerebellar region 1） and inferior cerebellar lobe （right cerebellar region 2， 7b and 8） in depression without suicidal ideation group was larger than that in healthy control group， the difference was statistically significant （P ＜ 0.05）. The volume of white matter in the inferior cerebellar lobe （right cerebellar region 2 and 8） in depression with suicidal ideation group was larger than that in the healthy control group and the difference was statistically significant （P ＜ 0.05）. The volume of white matter in right superior temporal gyrus， left insula， right thalamus， right anterior central gyrus and left anterior central gyrus in depression with suicidal ideation group was smaller than that in healthy control group. The difference was statistically significant （P＜ 0.05）. Pearson correlation analysis results showed that the white matter volume of the inferior cerebellum lobe （right cerebellar region 7b and 8） was negatively correlated with HAMA score （r=-0.419， P=0.021）； the white matter volume of the right superior temporal gyrus was positively correlated with HAMD-17 score （r=0.377， P=0.04）， and the white matter volume of the right thalamus was negatively correlated with the overall course of disease （r=-0.368， P=0.046）. Conclusions The white matter structure of depression patients with or without suicidal ideation has extensive changes， mainly in cerebellum， temporal lobe， insula， thalamus and anterior central gyrus. The changes of white matter volume in temporal lobe， insula， thalamus and anterior central gyrus may be related to the occurrence of suicidal ideation