In this paper, linear beamforming design for amplify-and-forward relaying cellular networks is considered, in which base station, relay station and mobile terminals are all equipped with multiple antennas. The design is based on minimum mean-square-error criterion, and both uplink and downlink scenarios are considered. It is found that the downlink and uplink beamforming design problems are in the same form, and iterative algorithms with the same structure can be used to solve the design problems. For the specific cases of fully loaded or overloaded uplink systems, a novel algorithm is derived and its relationships with several existing beamforming design algorithms for conventional MIMO or multiuser systems are revealed. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the performance advantage of the proposed design algorithms. © 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.