Over the last decade the interest in the technology of tissue engineering (TE) has grown enormously, especially with respect to reparative techniques. New methods and therapeutic tools have been designed; various cell types used and novel drugs and growth factors applied for the repair of lesions in numerous tissues, in particular bone and cartilage, resulting from injuries or degenerative changes due to aging of the population. The TE requires the application of various methods, including sophisticated surgical procedures supported by techniques of cell biology and biotechnology. The latter techniques are required for choosing appropriate cell types for transplantation, elaborating optimal cell culture conditions, designing scaffolds for cell delivery, affixing temporary implantable devices in the lesion site and supplying drugs and growth factors. In the present review we describe and discuss various TE techniques used in bone and cartilage repair including: recently applied principal cell sources, and the application of nanotube-based scaffolds in the regeneration of joint cartilage. Copyright © 2016 American Scientific Publishers. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America.