"The fans love him and he's a talisman. To have him back is a big, big bonus," Martin told BBC Radio Norfolk.
"He holds the ball up and when he's on form like he was on Saturday, for me, there's not many better in the league."
Martin added: "It's massive, he's our captain, on and off the pitch he's great for the dressing room."
The Canaries were leading 3-1 when referee Michael Oliver dismissed the frontman for a challenge on Royals defender Ian Harte, but City ended up drawing 3-3 after going down to 10 men.
Despite the final score 24-year-old Martin believes Norwich put in one of their more impressive performances of the season.
"I think that's the best we've played for a while, Holty was absolutely on fire, Chrissy (Martin) was as well," he said.
"I think if it had carried on 11 against 11 we could have gone on and got a couple more.
"It was a bad decision that's cost us but thankfully we've got Grant back for the next few games."
City host Leeds on Saturday with the Holt-Martin partnership back in full swing after a seven-game spell where Simeon Jackson had kept Martin out of the starting line-up.
And Holt revealed a heart-to-heart with his strike partner could have reignited their form.
"We had a chat in the week, there were things we thought we needed to do to get closer together as a partnership, and it worked," he said.
"He had been frustrated to be left out but I think he showed why, when he's firing on all cylinders, every time he gets the ball you fancy him to score.
"You saw the other day that Chris is back to his best."
Source: BBC Sport
Source: BBC Sport