In orthopedic surgery the demand for the use of bone grafts increases daily because of the increasing quantity and complexity of surgical procedures. At present, the gold standard is the autologous bone graft but the failure rate, morbidity of the donor site and limited availability have stimulated a proliferation for finding materials that work as bone graft substitutes. In order to have good success, we must know the different properties of these choices and the environment where the graft is going to be used. As bone graft substitutes and growth factors become clinical realities, a new gold standard will be defined. Tissue engineering and gene therapy techniques have the objective to create an optimum bone graft substitute with a combination of substances with properties of osteconduction, osteogenesis and osteoinduction.