Objective: This article reviews the literature on biomaterials used for bone regeneration. Material and method: A total of seventeen bibliographic sources were found using the MEDLINE database and to avoid the variability of the search terms the thesaurus Mesh was used. Results: These materials act essentially due to their osteoconductive ability, although their osteoinductive capacity is being improved with the use of growth factors. As to their effectiveness, many differences exist between them and some even affect bone regeneration negatively. Conclusions: Biomaterials used for bone regeneration are valid when the correct material is used. As yet the osteogenic capacity of autogenous bone has not been equalled by biomaterials. Tissue engineering has caused great interest because of its many possibilities, although more studies are necessary in order to achieve the ambitious expectations when it comes to tissue or organ regeneration in the human body