Abstract: The fouling mechanisms of some organic substances in the feed water of reverse osmosis (RO) system are introduced. The influences of operating conditions，membrane characteristics and solution chemistry to the process of fouling are discussed. In addition，some methods to control and reduce the organic fouling of RO membrane are summarized mainly including appropriate pretreatment，effective cleaning method and feasible membrane surface modification. Finally，the existing problems that need to be concerned for future researches are indicated.