Oil/water separation is a challenging task for industrial water treatment. Although progress had been made in many ways

the costs and effects are still far from satisfactory. Recently with the development of novel water/oil materials

new types of oil/water separation technologies with lower cost and better efficiencies have become possible. According to the needs from various waste oil/water treatment porcesses

this paper reviewed the properties of recently developed oil/ water separation materials

including inorganic membranes

polymer membranes

and modified polyurethane foams

and the progress made in treating oil bearing waste waters. The future trends in treating oil bearing waste water are also prospected.