Highly selective cellulose acetate (CA) blend imprinted membranes for salicylic acid (SA) was prepared by using phase inversion technique with sulfonated polysulfone (SPS) as a functional polymer, polyethylene glycol-4000 (PEG 4000) and ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([BMIM]Cl) as the additives. The membranes were characterized by several techniques including SEM, Raman, contact angle, membrane flux, and SA adsorption-desorption techniques. The SEM micrographs showed that the cross-sectional morphology of CA membranes was affected by polymer blend composition and applications of additives. Compared with the pure CA membrane the CA/SPS(90/10) + [BMIM]Cl membranes showed low contact angle, high membrane flux, strong adsorption capacity and high permeation selectivity. The experimental data of adsorption kinetic for CA/SPS(90/10) + [BMIM]Cl were well fitted to the pseudo-second-order kinetic model using multiple regression analysis. The selectivity coefficients of CA/SPS(90/10) + [BMIM]Cl-MIM for SA in relation to competition analogs p-hydroxybenzoic acid (p-HB) and phenol were 5.8549 and 5.9062, respectively, which suggested that CA/SPS(90/ 10) + [BMIM]Cl-MIM had high selectivity and binding affinity for the template SA. Overall results suggest that [BMIM]CI can be considered as an effective additive for CA imprinted membranes in the treatment of SA-contained water. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.