In this study, a novel submerged membrane bioreactor (SMBR) combined with rhamnolipids was developed to treat frying oil wastewater and control the problem of membrane fouling. To validate the feasibility of this new design, a hybrid SMBR with additional rhamnolipids (RSMBR) and a controlled SMBR (CSMBR) were run in parallel. Results demonstrated that RSMBR not only held high removal efficiency of oil up to 90% at short hydraulic time, but also exhibited 10 times higher membrane permeability in comparison to CSMBR. The presence of rhamnolipids greatly enhanced the contact and reaction between the microorganism and oil molecules. The great improvement in membrane filterability was associated with an increase in hydrophobicity of flocs as well as the increase of particle size from 53.06 to 145.54 mu m. The oil strongly adhered to the surface of flocs by rhamnolipids, and consequently prevented larger oil droplets directly depositing on the membrane surface. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.