As more bioactivities of oligosaccharides have been elucidated, researches on biosynthesis of oligosaccharides have drawn more concerns in Glycobiology. A lot of enzymatic methods for the synthesis of oligosacchrides have been developed employing recombinant E. coli expressed glycosyltranferase or synthase of nucleotide-sugar. This review focuses on the recent progress in the production of oligosaccharides using bacteria especially by genetically engineered bacteria. The key point concering the oligosaccharides biosynthesis in recombinant E. coli, such as enzyme expression, NDP-sugar provision and biosynthesis pathway, was discussed.