Using three voluntary service platforms as cases，the current study explores the participation motivations of the elderly volunteers，and the cultivation modes of individual and group volunteers in Guangzhou. It provides four suggestions for promoting the elderly to participate in the community volunteerism：first，leading by the party development and rooting in the community；second，taking “active aging” as the goal and fully considering the participation needs of the elderly；thirdly，fully realizing the elderly’s capacity in the “strength perspective”；fourth，promoting sustainable gratifications of elderly’s participation motivations through professional services.