Phenol and its derivatives from various man-made activities pose threats to public health and aquaticecosystems. A number of technologies (e.g., adsorption, oxidation, and biological methods) have beenproposed and tested to remove phenolic compounds from waste water. Among these technologies,membrane separation is considered one of the most efficient tools for abating phenolic compounds fromwaste water because of low capital cost, easy scalability, and ecofriendly production with the lowestemission of noxious compounds. In this review, we aim to address the potent role of membranetechnology by evaluating its performance in separating various phenolic compounds from industrialeffluents.