Organic pollutants which are commonly discharged by the 21 industrial groups identified by the US EPA are regulated under the toxic and priority pollutants list. Novel membrane bioreactor (MBR) systems developed in the last two decades, such as the high-retention MBRs (HR-MBRs) and extractive MBRs (EMBRs), could be applied in the retention/extraction of targeted organics from point-source industrial wastewater to meet stringent regulatory requirements. This paper combines previous reviews and studies conducted on the individual novel MBRs to discuss the potential in applying these technologies in the removal of targeted organic pollutants from industrial wastewater by providing a summary of the technologies and discussing the research gaps that currently hamper their commercialization. Future research should focus on long-term operation with real industrial wastewaters to identify membrane, operational and biodegradation limitations for further optimization. This includes advances in microbiology and the application of novel membranes to boost the biodegradation and removal capabilities of these novel MBR systems. Energy and economic analyses of the MBRs operated at the pilot/demo scale are required to compare their benefits with conventional treatment systems. (c) 2015 Society of Chemical Industry