With the quick emergence of antibiotic resistance and multi-drug resistant microbes,more and more attention has been paid to the development of new antimicrobial agents that have potential to take the challenge.Polysaccharides,as one of the major classes of biopolymers,were explored for their antimicrobial properties and applications,owing to their easy accessibility,biocompatibility and easy modification.Polysaccharides and their derivatives have variable demonstrations and applications as antimicrobial agents and antimicrobial biomaterials.A variety of polysaccharides,such as chitosan,dextran,hyaluronic acid,cellulose,other plant/animal-derived polysaccharides and their derivatives have been explored for antimicrobial applications.We expect that this review can summarize the important progress of this field and inspire new concepts,which will contribute to the development of novel antimicrobial agents in combating antibiotic resistance and drug-resistant antimicrobial infections.