This work aims to investigate the effect of clinoptilolite on the performance of membrane bioreactor (MBR). The control membrane bioreactor without clinoptilolite (CMBR) and the hybrid membrane bioreactor with clinoptilolite (HMBR), in two parallel simultaneous MBRs within long and short term filtration experiments, were studied. Sludge properties, transmembrane pressure (TMP) rise as an index for membrane fouling and nutrient removal from synthetic wastewater in the CMBR and HMBR were compared. In HMBR, sludge properties improvement such as 22.5% rise in MLSS, 7% more accumulation of large particles, reduction of soluble microbial products (SMP) to half of this value in CMBR, no increase in sludge volume index (SVI) and 66% TMP reduced. The results of short term filtration showed that the trend of TMP increase in terms of flux will be slower in HMBR. Improvement of biological wastewater treatment quality and ease of membrane operation are concluded from this study. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.