Modes and influencing factors of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and quercetin (QUE) interaction will help us understand the interaction mechanisms and functional changes of bioactive small molecules and biomacromolecules. The fluorescence spectroscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy, synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy, DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging assays were used to investigate the characteristics and antioxidant activity of BSA and QUE interaction in three solvent systems (deionized water, dH2O; dimethyl sulfoxide, DMSO and ethanol, EtOH). The results revealed that QUE had a great ability to quench BSA’s fluorescence in both static and dynamic modes, and that hydrophobic interaction played a dominant role in BSA and QUE interaction in three solvent systems. The binding constant values and binding site numbers between BSA and QUE were in the order of dH2O＞DMSO＞EtOH. The binding distances were in the order of EtOH＞DMSO＞dH2O. On the basis of the binding distance, the binding forces were in the order of dH2O＞DMSO＞EtOH. The synchronous fluorescence spectra demonstrated that QUE interacted with both tyrosine and tryptophan residues of BSA in three solvent systems. Moreover, the DPPH radical scavenging rates of both QUE and BSA-QUE were 30%. While, the ABTS radical scavenging rate of QUE was significantly decreased from 80% to 70% when bound to BSA. No significant difference in antioxidant activity between QUE and BSA-QUE was observed in three solvent systems.