Microfiltration (MF) technology has become an emerging and promising separation process for oily wastewater (OW) pre-treatment owing to its high oil separation efficiency and ease of operation. Membrane fouling by oil droplets is the most critical problem in utilizing the MF process, which finding new procedures to eliminate or at least postpone its formation is an important issue at present. In the current review, various perspectives are presented to introduce comprehensive development in the MF process over the past twenty years. First, the researches on the simple MF process are compared for commercial and modified ceramic and polymer-based membranes. Second, hybrid technologies containing the MF process are surveyed to examine their effects on water content and quality. Third, the applied enhancement methods on the MF process like turbulence promoter and external forces, including electric field, ultrasonic field, and UV irradiation, are summarized. Finally, future outlooks are briefly discussed for further advancement in the MF process of OW treatment for eventual implementation in industrial scales, especially by incorporating nanoparticles with excellent photocatalytic and hydrophilic characteristics in MF membranes.

由于微滤（MF）技术具有较高的油分离效率和易于操作性，它已成为含油废水（OW）预处理的新兴且有希望的分离工艺。油滴造成的膜污染是使用MF工艺最关键的问题，目前寻找新的方法消除或至少推迟其形成是一个重要问题。在当前的审查中，提出了各种观点以介绍过去二十年来MF过程的全面发展。首先，比较了简单MF工艺对商业和改性陶瓷和聚合物基膜的研究。其次，对包含MF工艺的混合技术进行了调查，以检查其对水含量和水质的影响。第三，总结了在MF过程中应用的增强方法，如湍流促进剂和外力，包括电场，超声场和紫外线辐射。最后，简要讨论了在OW处理的MF工艺中进一步发展以最终实现工业规模的未来前景，特别是通过在MF膜中掺入具有出色光催化和亲水特性的纳米粒子。