Membrane fouling has been regarded as one of the biggest challenges to widespread application of membrane bioreactor (MBR). This study focuses on minimizing the membrane fouling and improving the performance of submerged membrane bioreactor (SMBR) by porous sponge addition. The effects of sponge addition on sustainable flux and membrane fouling were investigated. Acclimatized sponge could significantly increase the suspended growth in SMBR with biomass of 16.7g/L-(sponge). With the sponge volume fraction of 10%, SSMBR could enhance sustainable flux up to 50L/m(2).h compared with sustainable flux of SMBR (only 25L/m(2).h). SSMBR also exhibited excellent results in terms of DOC removal (over 95%), COD removal (over 97%), lower transmembrane pressure development, and oxygen uptake rate. Over 89% of NH4-N and 98% of PO4-P were removed when SSMBR was operated with a MLSS concentration of 15g/L.