Drought stress is a primary environmental element restricting global crop productivity, quality and geographical distribution. Jasmonic acid (JA) plays a significant part in plant adversity defense, but many of its functions in drought response are unknown. Here, we report that SmMYC2 involves an ABA-independent drought stress response pathway and promotes drought resistance in Arabidopsis thaliana and Salvia miltiorrhiza. DNA affinity purification sequencing (DAP-seq) analysis uncovers the direct target genes of SmMYC2 related to adversity-responsive and hormone-signaling. Further studies revealed that SmMYC2 synergistically regulates three processes in drought response: (1) SmMYC2 directly bound to SmCAT ( catalase) and SmPOD40 ( peroxidase 40) promoters and activated their transcription, thus triggering the elimination of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and raising the drought resistance of S. miltiorrhiza, (2) SmMYC2 directly activated SmDREB2D, a DREB (dehydration response element binding) transcription factor gene, which promoted drought adaptation of S. miltiorrhiza through further signal transduction, (3) In the feedback section, SmMYC2 upregulated the expression of JA synthesis and repressor genes, which could precisely control the magnitude, duration, and opportune moment of the defense-related reactions. Collectively, the study sheds light on the mechanism by which SmMYC2 advances drought tolerance at the transcriptional level via cascade regulation.