Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a severe traumatic disease that has a profound impact on society, families, and patients. After SCI, neuronal axons exhibit limited spontaneous regenerative capacity, and effective clinical treatments remain lacking. Previous studies have demonstrated that various growth factors play crucial roles in protecting neural tissue, stimulating axonal regeneration and remyelination, and reducing scar formation after SCI. Hydrogels are currently considered ideal biomaterial scaffolds, as they can protect growth factors from degradation, enable localized delivery and sustained release of growth factors, and play significant roles in both the early phase and subsequent tissue regeneration stages after SCI. This article focuses on reviewing the research progress on hydrogel-delivered growth factor therapies for SCI during different stages of secondary damage and tissue regeneration.