Mesenchymal stem cells(MSCs)have been extensively used in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.The effect of surface properties on the differentiation of MSCs is a very important issue for the design and fabrication of scaffolds or biomaterials.This review is mainly focused on the morphological or topographic characteristics of cell adhesion substrate,i.e.cell area and shape for individual cell,cell density and cell-cell contact for multiple cells,substrate roughness,ridge width,micropillar height,nanoparticle diameter and aspect ratio of nanowire.The results from different studies were quantitatively analyzed using comparable or unified parameters and definitions under the specific experimental conditions such as cell source,culture time,induction medium,matrix material and differentiation marker.Some interesting phenomena and properties were discovered by this integrated and systematic analysis,which might give insights into the regulatory mechanism of surface morphology or topography on MSCs differentiation.