Membrane fouling is considered as a critical barrier for prolonged membrane operations including ultrafiltration (UF), nanofiltration (NF) and forward osmosis (FO) membrane processes. It may substantially affect membrane performance thus increase the overall energy consumption and operation costs. Among all kinds of membrane fouling, biofouling formed by the unwanted deposition or growth of microbes on membrane surface and/or inside of membrane pores is the most prevalent and problematic fouling type. Biofouling is hard to eliminate mainly due to the microbes can grow and reproduce at low nutrient and bacterial cell concentrations. Compared with the traditional biocides, development of nanotechnology provides a new aspect in membrane fouling control which attributes to the bactericidal effects of nanoparticles (NPs). In addition, the nanocomposite membranes fabricated by incorporating NPs in membrane matrix may exhibit various advantages, such as enhanced water permeability and separation capacity, improved mechanical, chemical and thermal stability, and etc. In this study, a systematic investigation of synthesis and characterization of novel anti-biofouling nanocomposite membranes with versatile applications were provided. Membrane performances, including separation and membrane anti-biofouling performance, were carefully investigated. Our results indicated that the nanocomposite membranes exhibited improved water permeability and separation properties compared with the NPs-free controls. Moreover, the nanocomposite membranes presented excellent bactericidal activities against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria in environmentally relevant freshwater.