Supported liquid membranes (SLM) are studied in various fields like analytical, inorganic and organic chemistry, chemical engineering, biotechnology and biomedical engineering. This technique offers the advantages of active transport, possible usage of expensive carriers, high selectivity, easy scale-up, low energy requirements, low capital and operating costs, etc. This paper gives a brief overview of mechanism and kinetic studies of SLM based separations. The problems with stability and possible applications of SLM are also reviewed. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.