The number of polymeric or other materials that are used in or as adjuncts to tissue engineering has increased enormously over the past decade. Furthermore, a host of previously unrelated technologies such as micromanufacturing, high-throughput screening, drug delivery, surface modification, and nanotechnology have become integral to the biomaterial aspects of tissue engineering, and many approaches have used more than one of these tool sets. Progress has been extensive. This review will cover selected aspects of that progress.