Along with the continuous development of biomaterials engineering, biomaterials in orthopaedics updates constantly, which offers a new way for the development of orthopaedics. Hyaluronic acid is a new hotspot in the research of biological materials recently. Hyaluronic acid has high viscoelasticity, plasticity, super water-holding capacity, permeability and good biological absorptivity. Modification of hyaluronic acid not only keeps the original performance, but also improves the functions, and be more adaptive to the human body. This paper summarizes the research status of hyaluronic acid and its derivatives, analyzes the problems and prospects the development trends.