In addition to proteins and nucleic acids, polysaccharides are an important type of biomacromolecule widely distributed in plants, animals, and microorganisms. Polysaccharides are considered promising materials due to their significant bioactivities, natural abundance, immunoactivity and chemical modifiability. Due to the similarities of the biochemical properties of polysaccharides and the extracellular matrix of human bodies, polysaccharides are increasingly recognized and accepted. Furthermore, the degradation behavior of these macromolecules is generally nontoxic. Certain delicate properties, such as remarkable mechanical properties and tunable tissue response, can be obtained by modifying the functional groups on the surface of polysaccharide molecules. The applications of polysaccharide-based biomaterials in the tissue engineering field have been growing intensively in recent decades, e.g., bone/cartilage regeneration, cardiac regeneration, neural regeneration, and skin regeneration. This review summarizes the main essential properties of polysaccharides, including their chemical properties, crosslinking mechanisms, and biological properties, and focuses on the association between their structures and properties. The recent progress in polysaccharide-based biomaterials in various tissue engineering applications is reviewed, and the prospects for future studies are addressed as well. We intend this review to offer a comprehensive understanding of and inspiration for the research and development of polysaccharide-based materials in tissue engineering.