The aim of the present study is to confirm the extent to which smooth membrane surface (A2) improves antifouling characteristics compared with rough membrane surface (Al) during microfiltration. In the study, two membranes have similar physicochemical characteristics, except surface roughness (difference of 107.206 nm). The membranes with a Tough surface (Al) and with a smooth surface (A2), respectively, were prepared by phase inversion under similar preparation conditions in order to obtain similar physicochemical properties such as material, average pore size, pore size distribution (PSD) and water contact angle values, for accurate and reliable comparisons of antifouling property. Based on the results, it was evident that final fluxes of A2 membrane with smooth surface were approximately 5% superior to those of Al membrane with rough surface, during microfiltration of humic acid solution alone and together with calcium at 0.2 bar and 1 bar due to the difference of surface roughness. In addition to this, the extent of various antifouling characteristics on both the rough and smooth surfaces of membranes were also compared using field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), energy dispersive Xray spectroscopy (EDS), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and water contact angle measurement. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.