Bone defects are bone loss caused by factors such as severe trauma, infection, tumor resection and congenital malformations. Bone transplantation, induced membrane technique or stem cell bone tissue engineering is needed for the defects that are difficult to heal naturally. However, the techniques related to bone transplantation are complex and have limited application scope; the induced membrane technique shows uncontrollable cement degradation rate and requires a second surgery; the stem cell bone tissue engineering still has some unstable factors such as undirected differentiation of stem cells. Exosomes are the key liposomes in the communication between cells. Compared with natural stem cell-derived exosomes, engineered exosomes with the advantages of high production and low immunogenicity are expected to replace stem cells in clinical applications. The authors review the mechanism of action of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-derived exosomes in repairing bone defects and application of engineered exosomes based on MSC in bone regeneration, so as to provide new ideas for the basic research and clinical treatment of bone defects.