In last two decades, an impressive progress has been recorded in terms of developing new materials or refining existing material composition/microstructure in order to obtain better performance in biomedical applications. The success of such efforts clearly demands better understanding of various concepts, e.g. biocompatibility, host response, cell-biomaterial interaction. In this article, we review the fundamental understanding that is required with respect to biomaterials development, as well as various materials and their properties, which are relevant in applications, such as hard tissue replacement. A major emphasize has been placed to present various design aspects, in terms of materials processing, of ceramics and polymer based biocomposites, Among the bioceramic composites, the research results obtained with Hydroxyapatite (HAp)-based biomaterials with metallic (Ti) or ceramic (Mullite) reinforcements as well as $SiO_2-MgO-Al_2O_3-K_2O-B_2O_3-F$ glass ceramics and stabilized $ZrO_2$ based bioinert ceramics are summarized. The physical as well as tribological properties of Polyethylene (PE) based hybrid biocomposites are discussed to illustrate the concept on how can the physical/wear properties be enhanced along with biocompatibility due to combined addition of bioinert and bioactive ceramic to a bioinert polymeric matrix. The tribological and corrosion properties of some important orthopedic metallic alloys based on Ti or Co-Cr-Mo are also illustrated. At the close, the future perspective on orthopedic biomaterials development and some unresolved issues are presented.