Tissue engineering requires complex three-dimensional scaffolds that mimic natural extracellular matrix function. A wide variety of techniques have been developed to create both fibrous and porous scaffolds out of polymers, ceramics, metals, and composite materials. Existing techniques include fiber bonding, electrospinning, emulsion freeze drying, solvent casting/particulate leaching, gas foaming/particulate leaching, high pressure processing, and thermally induced phase separation. Critical scaffold properties, including pore size, porosity, pore interconnectivity, and mechanical integrity, are determined by thermal processing parameters in many of these techniques. In this review, each tissue engineering scaffold preparation method is discussed, including recent advancements as well as advantages and disadvantages of the technique, with a particular emphasis placed on thermal parameters. Improvements on these existing techniques, as well as new thermal processing methods for tissue engineering scaffolds, will be needed to provide tissue engineers with finer control over tissue and organ development.