Hydrogen has been extensively accepted as a clean and efficient energy carrier to alleviate the mounting global energy and environmental crisis. Therefore, an ever-increasing demand for high-quality hydrogen provides a strong driving force towards developing efficient hydrogen purification technologies. Membrane-based gas separation technology for hydrogen purification has attracted considerable attention owing to the inherent advantages over other conventional separation techniques. Benefited from the booming development of chemical science, materials science and membrane science, an increasing number of advanced membrane materials and membranes have been developed for hydrogen purification in recent years. This review primarily focuses on the latest developments in design and fabrication of H-2-selective membranes and CO2-selective membranes for hydrogen purification, and the comparison of H-2-selective membranes and CO2-selective membranes will be briefly discussed. In addition, future direction to further explore energy-efficient membranes for hydrogen purification will be presented for discussion. It is anticipated that the present review will provide the guidance for the future research and development of membrane materials and membranes for hydrogen purification, and hence promote the development of sustainable and clean hydrogen energy. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.