The performance of different nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) membranes was studied in treating the toxic metal effluent from metallurgical industry. The characteristics and filtration behavior of the processes including the wastewater flux, salt rejection and ion rejection versus operating pressure were evaluated. Then the wastewater flux of RO membrane was compared with theoretical calculation using mass transfer models, and good consistency was observed. It was found that a high rejection rate more than 95% of metal ions and a low Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) value of 10 mg.L-1 in permeate could be achieved using the RO composite membrane, while the NF rejection of the salt could be up to 78.9% and the COD value in the permeate was 35 mg.L-1. The results showed that the product water by both NF and RO desalination satisfied the State Reutilization Qualification, but NF would be more suitable for large-scale industrial practice, which offered significantly higher permeate flux at low operating pressure.