Abstract: Hyaluronic acid had excellent moisturizing properties, and was used in cosmetics industry widely. Preparing hyaluronic acid from chitosan could be used to increase its productions, and the hyaluronic acid had a broad market prospects. In this paper, the structure of hyaluronic acid and chitosan, the preparation of hyaluronic substitutes through modification of chitosan (oligomer, carboxylation, acylation, quaternary ammonium, graft copolymerization and so on) and the hygroscopicity and moisture retention of hyaluronic substitutes, and the application of hyaluronic substitutes in the cosmetics and medicine were summarized. Meanwhile, the development trend of preparation of hyaluronic substitutes from chitosan was briefly introduced.