Studies on electronic structures and related properties of [Ru(bpy)2(dpq)]2+ and its 9,9′-substituted derivates are carried out using DFT method at B3LYP/LanL2DZ level. The substituent effects caused by the electron-pushing group (OH) and the electron-withdrawing groups (F) on the electronic structures and its related properties, e.g. the energies and components of some frontier molecular orbitals, the spectral properties, and the net charge populations of some main atoms of the complexes, etc. have been investigated. The computational results show that: first, the substituents have some important effects on the first excited state properties. Both electron-withdrawing group (F) and the electron-pushing group (OH) can all activate the main ligand and passivate the co-ligands in the first excited states of [Ru(bpy)2(9,9′-2R-dpq)]2+, and both can lead to a little red shift in the electronic ground bands of the substitutive derivates, respectively, in particular, the electron-pushing group (OH) can lead to that more. Secondly, the most negative charges are populated on N1 or N5, and the next most negative charges are populated on C8 among all atoms of aromatic ring skeleton. In addition, the substituents have slight effects on coordination-bond lengths of complexes. The above theoretical results should be important to further inquire into the interaction mechanism between the complexes and DNA active units from the interactions between molecular orbitals, or from the interactions between atomic charges.