A novel ion-imprinted membranes were synthesized for selective removal and preconentration for Ag(I) ions from aqueous solutions. The membranes were obtained via crosslinking of chitosan (CS), PVA, and blend chitosan/PVA using glutaraldehyde (GA) as crosslinker. The FTIR spectra were used to confirm the membrane formation. Comparing with the nonimprinted membranes, Ag(I)-imprinted CS and CS/PVA has higher removal capacity and selectivity for Ag+ ions. An enhancement in the Ag+ removal capacity by similar to 20% (from 77.8 to 94.4 mg g(-1)) and similar to 50% (from 83.9 to 125 mg g(-1)) was found in the Ag(l)-imprinted CS and Ag(l)-imprinted CS/PVA membranes, respectively, when compared with the nonimprinted membranes. Removal equilibra was achieved in about 40 min for the non- and ion-imprinted CS/PVA. The pH and temperature significantly affected the removal capacity of ion-imprinted membrane. The relative selectivity coefficient values of Ag+/Cu2+ and Ag+/Ni2+ are 9 and 10.7 for ion-imprinted CS membrane and 11.1 and 15 for ion-imprinted CS/PVA membrane when compared with nonimprinted membranes. The imprinted membranes can be easily regenerated by 0.01M EDTA and therefore can be reused at least five times with only 15% loss of removal capacity. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 114:2608-2615, 2009