Tea (Camellia sinenesis) is a health beneficial beverage and is also a source for extracting bioactive components such as theanine, tea polyphenols (TPP) and tea polysaccharides (TPS). TPS is a group of hetero-polysaccharides bounded with proteins. There were tests showing that TPS had various bioactivities, such as antioxidant, antitumors, antihyperglycemia, anti-inflammation and improving immunity. However, inconsistent results concerning chemical composition and bioactivity of TPS were published in recent years. The advances in chemical composition and bioactivities of TPS were reviewed in the present paper. The inconsistent and controversial results regarding composition and bioactivities of TPS were also discussed.