Besides their use as packaging materials, biodegradable polymers can play a major role in tissue engineering as three‐dimensional porous structures (scaffolds). The success of these biodegradable scaffolds is, however, determined by the response it elicits from the surrounding biological environment and this response is governed, to a large extent, by the surface characteristics of the scaffold. Multiple approaches have been developed to obtain the desired surface properties, however, in the past decade, the use of non‐thermal plasmas for selective surface modification has been a rapidly growing research field. This paper therefore presents a critical overview on recent advances in plasma‐assisted surface modification of biodegradable polymers. Biodegradable polymers are currently investigated as three‐dimensional porous structures in the emerging field of tissue engineering. However, the surface properties of these polymers are insufficient to satisfy the requirements regarding cell–biomaterial interactions. The required surface properties can be obtained using non‐thermal plasma technology and this exciting research field will therefore be the main focus of this review paper.