The reaction of gelatin with tannic acid using microwave heating with simultaneous cooling (MHSC) in comparison with water bath heating was investigated to get some hints on the non-thermal effect of microwave. MHSC showed a better ability to accelerate the reaction rate. It also increased the turbidity, crosslinking degree, and viscosity of the crosslinked gelatin by 91 FTU, 6.8%, and 0.08 respectively, indicating that microwave could improve the properties of the product. Moreover, sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis patterns reflected that the crosslinked gelatin (MHSC) had a higher molecular weight as the gray levels decreased by 9.2% (235-245kDa), 2.3% (135-145kDa), and 9.3% (122-132kDa). More homogeneous aggregations were identified at the crosslinked gelatin by atomic force microscopy. These results proved that microwave has a non-thermal effect in the gelatin crosslinking process, accelerating the crosslinking reaction, and improving the performance of the gelatin product, which may have a good use in industry.