Articular cartilage damage is very common in clinical practices. Due to the low self healing abilities of articular cartilage, it must be repaired or substituted by implants once natural articular cartilage is damaged. On the other hand, the various technologies currently used for healing damaged articular cartilage are little satisfactory, and rarely restore full function or return the tissue to its natively normal state. Tissue engineering technology holds great promise for the healing of damage or defects of articular cartilage. Tissue engineered articular cartilage is one of the most promising methods for repairing articular cartilage trauma and defects. In this paper, the authors review the research progress of three elements such as seed cells, growth factors and scaffolds which constitute tissue engineered articular cartilage.