Cardo poly (arylene ether ketone)s bearing hydrophilic carboxylic acid groups (PAEK-COOH) was successfully synthesized by condensation polymerization of 2-[bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)methyl] benzoic acid and 4,4'-bisfluoro-diphenylketone. TGA and DSC analyses demonstrated that the material has an initial decomposition temperature and glass transition temperature of 360 degrees C and 220 degrees C respectively, which revealed the excellent thermal stability of PAEK-COOH. Then PAEK-COOH was employed to fabricate tight ultrafiltration membrane by the nonsolvent induced phase inversion process (NIPS). The water contact angle of the prepared membrane is 61.5 degrees, indicating its good hydrophilicity. The PAEK-COOH tight ultrafiltration membrane possesses a pure water flux of 119.6 +/- 2.6 L m(-2) h(-1), dye permeation flux of 100.9 +/- 4.3 L m(-2) h(-1) and rejection of 99.8 +/- 0.33% for Congo red at dye concentration of 100 ppm and operation pressure of 0.4 MPa. Membrane has a molecular weight cut off of 9260 Da and gives complete penetration of monovalent inorganic salt NaCl but a slight rejection of divalent inorganic salt Na2SO4 (less than 10%). Thus, the membrane could be used in the decolorization of wastewater or fractionation of dye and salt mixture for dye purification. The membrane also exhibits excellent antifouling performance and anti-dye adsorption properties with a flux recovery ratio of 91.5% for BSA and dye adsorption rate below 5.0% for four kinds of studied dyes, respectively.