Based on study of elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHD) and meshing theory of planar worm gear drive, EHD model for the drive is proposed. Minimum film thickness on the whole contact area is calculated. EHD status for the drive is analyzed. The distributions of film thickness show that, EHD status during entry engagement is better than that during exit engagement, and EHD status of worm addendum area is better than that of dedendum area. Influencing factors such as work conditions and optimized parameters along with their effects were analyzed. Theoretical analysis suggests that the optimizing pressure angle and increasing worm pitch diameter have influence on improving lubricant performance of the planar worm gear drive.