The paper deals with complete characterisation of different grades of cellulose acetate polymers, available bath locally and from abroad in order to develop an ideal source for making improved RO membranes indigenously. Asymmetric membranes have been made from all these polymers using standard conditions and employing identical environment. The reverse osmosis (RO) performance of all the membranes have been evaluated for brackish water feeds. The IR, X-ray, and TGA/DTA of the membrane/polymer samples have been taken to further elucidate the inherent physico-chemical properties. The distinct difference in transport property of the membranes prepared from the different polymers indicates better performance for the imported polymer based membranes in terms of both solute rejection and flux followed by membranes prepared from indigenously made polymers. The major difference in properties of these polymers appears to be in the molecular weight which results in wide variation in solution viscosity. This in turn may lead to varying degree of solvent evaporation and skin formation. This aspect has been looked into in detail.