Developing strategies that allow tuning anti-adhesion ability of membranes in membrane bioreactors (MBRs) is of primary interest in membrane fouling research. In this study, interaction energies between foulants and membrane in three different interaction scenarios were systematically assessed based on thermodynamic methods. It was found that, membrane surface electron donor tension (gamma(-)) rather than surface hydrophilicity was a more reliable indicator to predict adsorptive fouling. The interaction energy would be continuously repulsive in the initial range of separation distance when membrane gamma(-) is higher than a critical value, suggesting that designing membrane with gamma(-) higher than a critical value would confer membrane with high anti-adhesion ability. It was also found that, zeta potential on the membrane surface exerted certain effects on adsorptive fouling. This study proposed a novel strategy regarding adjusting membrane gamma(-) to tune anti-adhesion ability of membrane, and also offered a thermodynamic theoretical background to this strategy. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.