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BACKGROUND: Gingiva is one of key components in periodontal complex, which is characterized by wound healing without scar. Gingival mesenchymal stem cells have multi-directional differentiation potential. In recent years, more and more studies have demonstrated that Gingival mesenchymal stem cells can be applied in the regeneration of certain tissues. OBJECTIVE: To review the researches of gingival mesenchymal stem cells in tissue regeneration. METHODS: Retrieval of related-articles in nearly 20 years was conducted via China Biology Medicine (CBM), CNKI, PubMed databases. The search terms included “gingiva, mesenchymal stem cells, stem cell, regeneration, tissue, scaffold”. After preliminary screening through reading titles and abstracts to exclude the articles that were not related to the topic, 60 articles were finally included for further analysis. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) Gingival mesenchymal stem cells can be differentiated into osteoblasts, chondroblasts, lipoblasts, endothelial cells, auditory cells and taste bud cells under certain induction conditions in vitro. (2) The combination of gingival mesenchymal stem cells and scaffolds such as alginate 3D scaffolds, 3D-printed polylactic acid scaffolds and 3D collagen scaffolds, can enhance the tissue regeneration potential. (3) Bioactive factors such as dexamethasone, bone-specific growth factor and insulin-like growth factor, can also enhance the regenerative potential. (4) However, the current construction and preparation of scaffold to delivery gingival mesenchymal stem cells are not ideal such as low survival rate and differentiation rate. Future research should focus on how to improve the efficiency of scaffold in order to apply gingival mesenchymal stem cells to regenerate tissue in clinic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]