The growing environmental concerns on the technologies being adopted for non-renewable energy generation and consumption has brought in a new dimension to the role of water gas shift reaction (WGSR) in providing pure hydrogen to the portable and stationery fuel cell systems. The review has focussed on the status of the membrane reactor technology for WGSR, the activity and deactivation of catalysts employed, efficiency of ceramic membrane systems, the membrane reactor configuration and design aspects, kinetics and mechanism of WGSR and modelling for simulation of membrane reactor performance specifically with reference to its application in fuel cell systems. Copyright (C) 2011, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.