Here we used rheological methods to study the gelation kinetics of silanized hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC-Si) hydrogel for tissue engineering. Firstly, the gelation time was determined from the independence of tan delta on frequency, and the Arrhenius law was applied to obtain the apparent activation energy of gelation, which was found to be about 109.0 kJ/mol. Secondly, the gelation process was monitored by measuring the sample storage modulus. The results showed that the gelation process could be well classified as a second-order reaction. In addition, a composite HPMC-Si/MWNTs hydrogel system for potential cartilage tissue engineering was investigated. The comparison of pure HPMC-Si hydrogel and composite HPMC-Si/MWNTs systems indicated that the addition of MWNTs could increase the mechanical strength of hydrogel without changing the gelation mechanism of the system.