Using an isospin- and momentum-dependent hadronic transport model, effects of the symmetry energy on several observables in heavy-ion collisions induced by radioactive beams at intermediate energies are studied. It is found that rapidity distribution of the isospin asymmetry of nucleon emissions, transverse momentum distribution of the ratio of free neutrons to protons at mid-rapidity, kinetic energy distribution of the ratio of π-/π+ as well as evolution of the isospin fractionation are all sensitive to the symmetry energy.