Nanofiltration has been playing an important role in water purification, in which the developments of novel membrane materials and modules are among significant. Herein, a metal-organic framework (MOFs) hybrid membrane, ZIF-8/PSS was fabricated on a tubular alumina substrate through a layer-by-layer self-assembly technique. ZIF-8 particles in situ grow into PSS layers to improve their compatibility and dispersion, thereby getting high quality membrane, which was loaded into a steel tubular module for nano-filtrating dyes from water. Under optimized conditions, it shows outstanding nanofiltration properties toward methyl blue, with the flux of 210 Lm(-2) h(-1) MPa-1 and the rejection of 98.6%. Furthermore, the good pressure resistance ability and running stability of the membrane were revealed, which can be attributed to use the ceramic substrate and the inherent stability of ZIF-8. This work thus illustrates a simple approach for fabricating MOFs hybrid membranes on tubular ceramic substrates, having great potential for industrial applications. (c) 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 62: 538-546, 2016