To investigate the advantages of the toroidal propeller in hydrodynamic performance and the characteristics of its blade surface pressure distribution, this study first examined the configuration parameters of the toroidal propeller. A parametric modeling approach was applied to the entire propeller, leading to the development of a first-generation toroidal propeller model. Subsequently, based on the STAR-CCM+ software, the open-water performance and pressure distribution of the propeller were computed using the Detached Eddy Simulation (DES) turbulence model. A second-generation toroidal propeller was then developed by adjusting the pitch distribution, which optimized the surface pressure distribution. The research indicates that the configuration design of the toroidal propeller requires the introduction of new parameters. The open-water performance of the toroidal propeller follows a trend similar to that of conventional propellers, but its maximum efficiency is not ideal. The total thrust of the toroidal propeller is considerable; however, the selection of the airfoil and parameters may be unreasonable, leading to pressure loss in both the pressure and suction sides of the front blade and consequently degrading the surface pressure distribution to some extent. Adjusting the pitch distributions of the front and rear blades of the toroidal propeller can significantly optimize the pressure distribution on the blade surface.