N-phthaloylchitosan (CS) was synthesized by the reaction of chitosan with phthalic anhydride in dimethyl formamide. Different compositions of polysulfone (PSI) and N-phthaloylchitosan were used to prepare novel polysulfone/N-phthaloylchitosan (PSf/CS) composite membranes by phase inversion method. The composition ratios between the former and the latter were 80:20, 85:15,90:10, and 95:5. Water flux results revealed that, PSf:CS 80:20 membrane is found to have greatest effective pore area while PSf:CS 95:05 membrane has the smallest value. The pore area is found to be larger with the increase in CS composition. In addition, its water swelling property increases with the increase of CS composition. Water flux results are in consistent with dielectric constant value. Use of known molecular weight of polyethylene glycol rejection study, revealed that. PSf:CS 95:05 membrane possessed the smallest pore size among these membranes. In conclusion, change of ratio between PSf and CS, considerably affects membrane pore size and hydrophilicity. For salt filtration, membrane PSf:CS 95:05 showed 93%, 76.11% and 70.12% rejection of MgSO4, Na2SO4, and NaCl, respectively. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.