The Algerian team featured twelve returning Olympians, with 37-year-old marathon runner Souad Aït Salem having participated in four Olympic Games as the oldest and most experienced member.

Foil fencer Anissa Khelfaoui, along with boxers Abdelhafid Benchabla and Abdelkader Chadi, was among the Algerian athletes headed to their third Olympics, while eight others previously competed in London, including defending champion Taoufik Makhloufi in middle-distance running, former French fencer Victor Sintès, and heavyweight judoka Sonia Asselah, who was selected by the committee to carry the Algerian flag at the opening ceremony, the first by a female in Summer Olympic history.

[9][10] Fahem Hammachi secured an additional Olympic place on the Algerian roster as a quarterfinalist losing to the eventual champion Mykola Butsenko of Ukraine at the 2016 AIBA World Qualifying Tournament in Baku, Azerbaijan.

[11] Algerian riders qualified for a maximum of two quota places in the men's Olympic road race by virtue of their top 4 national ranking in the 2015 UCI Africa Tour.

Two-time Olympian Anissa Khelfaoui claimed an Olympic spot as one of the two highest-ranked fencers from Africa outside the world's top 14 in the FIE Adjusted Official Rankings.

[13] Meanwhile, former French foil fencer Victor Sintès rounded out the roster by virtue of a top finish at the African Zonal Qualifier in Algiers.

Houd Zourdani, Lyès Bouyacoub, Mohamed-Amine Tayeb, and Abderahmane Benamadi were ranked among the top 22 eligible judokas for men in the IJF World Ranking List of 30 May 2016, while London 2012 Olympian Sonia Asselah at women's heavyweight (78 kg) earned a continental quota spot from the African region as the highest-ranked Algerian judoka outside of direct qualifying position.