Franco Smith's squad had a tough time during their South Africa tour, going down to two heavy defeats and missing key internationals in pivotal positions.
Jamie Dobie, George Horne, Scott Cummings, Gregor Brown and Matt Fagerson were among the most notable absentees, but all are expected back in time for the play-offs.
With the play-offs starting on May 29, several could return in the final regular-season games as Glasgow push for home advantage.
"We would love to have everyone available," admitted Carolan. "I think when you get to the end of the season, it definitely helps to have momentum, which we hope to build over the next couple of games, but also a full deck.
"By the playoffs, we hope to have a good chunk of those guys back. They were missed in South Africa, of course, but as I said, it's an opportunity to develop other players.
"Guys like Ryan Burke have got a game off the bench at the start, which wasn't necessarily part of our plans, but we're more than happy to have given them that level of exposure. Those young guys trickle right throughout the squad all the time.
"In the meantime, while the players come back, we hope to start to build a little bit of momentum so that when Scott, Gregor, George Horne, Jamie Dobie will all be back in the coming weeks at various times, that hopefully we have momentum and a full deck as we go into the last couple of games."
It is understood that all five players are well along in their return-to-play protocols and are already participating in parts of training.
Scott Cummings has not played since the Six Nations Championship and had been set to feature in South Africa before suffering an injury setback.
Asked whether any of the returning players could be involved in Friday's final regular-season match at Scotstoun, Carolan remained cautious: "Everyone's back training at various levels. It's probably a bit early to be able to nail our colours to what team is going to go out on Friday, but everyone's back. Everyone's getting a little bit closer to returning.
"It's difficult at the moment to say exactly who's. It'll take probably a little bit later in the week or tomorrow before we're able to nail down exactly who's what.
"We've still got to assess whether it's right for some of those returning guys to get exposure this week or whether we leave it another week or into a quarter-final."