The 18 AVC member associations submitted their U18 boys' national team to the 2018 Asian U18 Championship. But, Uzbekistan later withdrew. The 17 AVC member associations were from 5 zonal associations, including, Central Asia (6 teams), East Asia (5 teams), Oceania (2 teams), Southeast Asia (2 teams) and West Asia (2 teams).
This was the first Asian U18 Championship which used the new competition format. Following the 2017 AVC Board of Administration's unanimous decision, the new format saw teams were drawn into six pools up to the total amount of the participating teams. Each team as well as the hosts was assigned into a pool according to their final standing of the 2017 edition. As the three best ranked teams were drawn in the same pool A, the next best three contested pool B, the next best three contested pool C.[4] But, Uzbekistan withdrew after the draw. Final standing of the 2017 edition are shown in brackets.
If the tie continues as per the point ratio between two teams, the priority will be given to the team which won the last match between them. When the tie in points ratio is between three or more teams, a new classification of these teams in the terms of points 1, 2 and 3 will be made taking into consideration only the matches in which they were opposed to each other.
Match won 3–0 or 3–1: 3 match points for the winner, 0 match points for the loser
Match won 3–2: 2 match points for the winner, 1 match point for the loser
Originally, the winners of pool D had to play against the third ranked team of pool E in the playoffs. However, due to the absence of Uzbekistan, there were only two teams in pool E, so the winners of pool D went directly to the round of 12.