This paper presents a brief overview of improved Liquid membrane (LM) separation techniques, including modified bulk, supported and emulsion liquid membranes as well as hollow fibre contained liquid membranes, electrostatic pseudo liquid membranes (ESPLIM) reverse micelle and recently developed hybrid (HLM) and other LM configurations. The discussion also includes design of ion specific carriers, analytical importance, aspects of stability and modelling of LMs and their applications in the separation/removal of metal cations from a range of diverse matrices. In general, an attempt has been made to review the literature published from 1990 to 1997 in order to focus on the present status of different liquid membrane configurations. The LM studies dealing with separation and removal of organic compounds and gases are not included in this article owing to limitations of space.