The polyvinyl chloride (PVC) based polyvinyl alcohol zinc oxide composite membrane was successfully prepared by solution casting technique. Membrane properties were studied in terms of water uptake,porosity, thickness, ion-exchange capacity and swelling. The physico-chemical characterization of the material was studied using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, thermogravimetry analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies. The important application of this composite ion-exchange membrane is in environmental separation of heavy metal ions transport. The increasing order of transport number of cation as HgCl2 < PbCl2 < CdCl2.