Abstract: Three composite reverse osmosis membranes were prepared from m-phenylenediamine (MPD) and trimesoyl chloride (TMC), 5-chloroformate-isophthaloyl chloride (CFIC), 5-isocynate-isophthaloyl chloride (ICIC) respectively through the interfacial polymerization technique on the polysulphone supporting membrane.The membranes produced were characterized by using permeation experiments with salt water, attenuated total reflectance infrared (ATR-IR), and X-ray photoelectronic spectroscopy (XPS).This study showed that with the increase of NaCl concentration, the flux of the three membranes decreased; the rejection of TMC/MPD, ICIC/MPD composite membranes increased firstly and then decreased; but the rejection of CFIC/MPD composite membrane kept steady.According to the ATR-IR and XPS results, the active layer of three membranes was composed of crosslinked polymer and linear polymer with pendant; all three composite membranes contained amide functional group（—CONH—）and carboxyl acid functional group（—COOH）; the ICIC/MPD composite membrane contained urea functional group（—NHCONH—）; the CFIC/MPD composite membrane also contains urethane functional group（—OCONH—）and hydroxyl functional group（—OH）.The hydroxyl functional group could lead to high rejection and low flux.