The single-detector polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) is studied,aiming at validating its ability to detect qualitatively the birefringence of biological tissue. The theory of single-detector PS-OCT detecting the birefringence of biological tissue was described,and the influence of birefringence on the Stokes vector was demonstrated with Monte Carlo simulation. A single-detector PS-OCT system was set up,which has a theoretical resolution of 10 μm,and experiment was performed on a bovine cartilage sample. The PS-OCT image indicated the birefringence of cartilage. The theoretical analysis and experiments results prove the ability of single-detector PS-OCT detecting tissue birefringence and the possibility of using single-detector PS-OCT in medical diagnosing domain.