The work aims to study the preservative effect of chitosan/cinnamon essential oil composite coating on tilapia meat in low temperature storage in order to prolong the shelf life of tilapia and explore a new approach for preserving tilapia meat. The total colonies, pH, chromatic aberration, TVB-N and sensory evaluation of tilapia meat in four different treatment groups (the control group CK and chitosan coating group CS and three chitosan/cinnamon essential oil composite coating groups CSC1, CSC2 and CSC3) was determined under the storage condition of 4 °C (the essential oil content was 0.3%, 0.6% and 0.9%, respectively). The storage and preservation effects of different coating treatments on tilapia meat were compared. The results showed that during storage, CSC3 group had a good preservation effect on tilapia meat. On the 10th day of storage, the total bacteria was 5.91 lg(CFU/g), pH was 6.53, the chromatic aberration was 7.31, the TVB-N content was 0.28 mg/g, and the sensory score was 9.03 points. Therefore, these four treatment methods have preservation effect on tilapia meat at 4 °C, but the CSC3 group has the best preservation effect. Compared with the CK group, the shelf life of tilapia meat can be extended by 4 days.