Low light environment under water is a common problem in the revegetation of submerged macrophytes. Therefore, it is necessary to study their adaptability to low light stress. The central part of the southern Lake Erhai (a mesotrophic lake in Yunnan Province, China) is flat, with an average annual water depth of about 6.3 m, which was called the “lake center platform” (LCP). Large areas of aquatic vegetation were once existed in the LCP, which had important roles in the lake ecological function but completely disappeared since 2003. Therefore, we chose the LCP as our experimental site, and select four common submerged macrophytes (Vallisneria natans, Hydrilla verticillata, Myriophyllum spicatum, and Potamogeton wrightii) as the research objects for the in-situ pot experiment, then select the potential species for revegetation by comparing their growth and final survival rates. Our results showed that: 1) the growth of the four species was stressed under the low light environment, and the biomass and plant height significantly reduced. The relative differences in biomass among species were as follows: V. natans and P. wrightii>M. spicatum and H. verticillata, and the relative differences in plant height were as follows: V. natans>P. wrightii>M. spicatum>H. verticillate; 2) In terms of physiological characteristics, V. natans, P. wrightii and M. spicatum had similar physiological response to low light stress-the contents of N and free amino acids increased, the ratio of C∶N, soluble carbohydrate and starch content decreased. Only the chlorophyll content of V. natans increased. The physiological response of H. verticillata to low light stress was as follows: the content of free amino acids decreased, and those of soluble carbohydrate and starch increased; 3) the final survival rates of four species were as follows: V. natans>P. wrightii>M. spicatum>H. verticillata. In summary, the relative biomass and plant height and final survial rate of V. natans were highest, therefore it was more suitable for underwater low light environment and could be considered as a pioneer species for revegetation in LCP.