<p>Rice, an important cereal crop, is highly sensitive to salinity. As global rice-growing areas increasingly become saline due to various factors, this seriously threatens productivity and, ultimately, food security. The development of saline-tolerant rice cultivars is the only practical way to maintain rice crop production in these areas. Extensive studies have shown that the <i>Saltol</i> QTL, originally identified in the cultivar ‘Pokkali’ on chromosome 1, controls salinity tolerance through Na⁺: K⁺ homeostasis. Genes in this region, viz<i>. OsNHX1</i> and <i>OsHKT2;1</i> are known to regulate this mechanism by accumulating excess Na⁺ into the vacuoles. The <i>Saltol</i> region contains five quantitative trait loci (QTL) that are tightly linked with many simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Through ‘QTL confirmation’ and ‘marker validation’ of the <i>Saltol</i> region, rapid breeding of saline-tolerant rice cultivars can be achieved via marker-assisted selection (MAS). We developed an F₂ population by crossing ADT 45 (a saline-susceptible mega variety) with FL 478 (a saline-tolerant breeding line). To facilitate marker-assisted selection (MAS), 72 SSR markers surrounding the <i>Saltol</i> region on chromosome 1 were studied to validate the QTL–marker association through genetic mapping. This study demonstrates the association of QTLs in the <i>Saltol</i> region with salinity tolerance-related traits such as shoot Na⁺ concentration, shoot Na⁺:K⁺ ratio, root Na⁺ concentration, root K⁺ concentration, and Na⁺:K⁺ ratio. The SSR markers <i>RM493</i> on the distal end, <i>AP3206</i> on the proximal end, and <i>RM3412</i> as the peak marker were identified as tightly linked and potential SSR markers that can be used in marker-assisted selection.</p>