This paper describes a facile approach for the surface modification of polypropylene non-woven fabric (NWF) by PVA (polyvinyl alcohol) to determine its filterability. The NWF surface modification involved the physical adsorption of PVA to immobilize PVA on the NWF surface. Chemical structures and morphological changes of the PVA-modified NWF sample surfaces were characterized in details by attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (FTIR/ATR) spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron micrograph (SEM), and water contact angle measurements. Results reveal that PVA concentration has significant effects on the immobilization degree of PVA, and pure water contact angle on the NWF surface decreases with the increase in PVA concentration indicating an enhanced hydrophilicity for the modified NWF. Coomassie brilliant blue G250 method was utilized to quantify the static bovine serum albumin solution adsorption on the NWF surface. This adsorption was used to indicate the protein fouling property of the modified NWF with PVA. The results showed that after PVA modification, the polar groups such as C-O, C-O-C were introduced to the NWF surface, hydrophilicity was improved, and water static contact angles were decreased from 86 +/- 1 degrees to 43 +/- 3 degrees, the amount of bovine serum albumin (BSA) static adsorption on modified NWF was decreased by 83.4%. Membrane bioreactor was used for the treatment of a pharmaceutical wastewater to determine the filterability of modified NWF. The results revealed that flux declination of modified NWF was only 12%, in comparison of the original NWF of 40%. The anti-fouling property for the modified NWF was enhanced greatly. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.