a-Cyclodextrin membranes were prepared by the phase inversion method using four types of casting solvents such as N-methyl pyrrolidone (NMP), dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), dimethyl acetamide (DMAc), and dimethyl formamide (DMF) herein-after termed as a-CD-NMP, a-CD-DMSO, a-CD-DMAc, and a-CD-DMF, respectively. The membranes were characterized by IR, XRD, TGA-DTA, DSC, and SEM analysis and show that solvents like NMP, DMA, DMF give good uniform morphological membranes and are better than that of DMSO. Thermal decompositions of the pure polymer and composite membranes indicate different range of thermal degradation of the membrane. This study reveals that the casting solvents NMP, DMF, DMAC have nearly same significant effect on morphology and other properties of the membranes. This is explained in terms of demixing behavior of the polymer and the combined effect of solvent volatility and polymersolvent interactions as estimated from Hansen solubility parameter. Solvent hydrophobicity also affects the performance of the membrane and can be determined in terms of water permeability. (C) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012