Space-division multiplexing (SDM) technique has attracted increasing attentions recently, because it provides an effective way to increase transmission capacity. With the continuous and exponential increase in data demands, high-density integration of silicon photonic components is of significant interest in terms of link price, performance and power consumption. The multimode/mutlicore devices applied to achieve diverse functionalities are key building blocks to construct a chip-scale SDM system based on a silicon on insulator (SOI) platform. This study reviews the recent progress of multimode/multicore devices, which enable coupling, multiplexing/demultiplexing, transmitting switching, as well as modulation and detection. Based on these devices, a complete on-chip SDM system is constructed and discussed.