In this study, a composite of the polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and layered double hydroxide (LDH) has been used as substrate material for the forward osmosis (FO) membrane preparation. Different concentrations of LDH (0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5 and 3 wt%) were incorporated into PVC to fabricate FO substrates. The substrate morphology was evaluated by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and thermodynamic aspect. Furthermore, the substrate transport properties and osmotic performance of TFC-FO membranes was investigated. It was observed that the increasing concentration of LDH in PVC matrix results an increase in hydrophilicity, surface free energy, pore size and porosity of the substrates. Among all seven TFC-FO membranes, 2 wt% LDH substrate's TFC membrane (denoted as TFC-SUB 2) was unveiled a notable decrease in structural parameter (S). In osmotic flux evaluation, the TFC-SUB 2 membrane exhibited the high water flux of 37.46 Lm(-2) h(-1)(LMH) and 50.89 Lm(-2) h(-1) (LMH) using DI water as a feed solution and 1 M NaCl draw solution under an active layer facing feed solution (AL-FS) and an active layer facing draw solution (AL-DS) respectively. This study shows that PVC and LDH can be good candidates for the FO substrate preparation. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V.