In order to improve the low-temperature resistance of emulsion explosives （EE）， dimethyl sulfoxide （DMSO） was added into the aqueous phase of emulsion explosive matrix （EEM）. The crystallization rate， and microscopic structure and detonation performance of brisance of the prepared EEM were studied. And the thermal decomposition characteristics of EEM were also tested thermogravimetry-derivative thermogravimetry （TG-DTG） technology. The results show that adding 1.5% （mass fraction） of DMSO can delay the time for the EEM to reach the maximum crystallization rate from 24 days to 51 days under the condition of freezing at -20 ℃， compared to the EEM without DMSO. After being frozen for 12 days， the EEM containing DMSO has a more uniform distribution of emulsion particles. DMSO （1.5%） can increase the brisance of EE by 29.9%. The addition of DMSO has no obvious effect on the thermal decomposition process of EEM， but the apparent activation energy of EEM decreased with the increase of the DMSO content. When the DMSO content reached 1.5%， the apparent activation energy of EEM decreased by about 18.5%