In this study, an asymmetric nanofiltration-surfactant (NFS) membrane was prepared via simple dry/wet phase inversion technique. A newly dope formulation consisting of different surfactants (SDS, CTAB) and polymer concentration (17 wt%-21 wt%) were developed. The effect of these parameters on dyes performance in terms of dyes flux, rejection and morphological structure were examined. Experimental data showed that, at different ranges of polymer concentration, NFS membranes shows low permeation flux of dyes ranging from 9.256 L/m2h to 14.315 L/m2h at 4 bar operating pressure. Significantly, the addition of SDS and CTAB surfactants were found to promote the increasing of dyes flux and rejection up to 79.698 L/m2h and 99.5% respectively. Addition of surfactant shows the membrane surface morphology with upper layer and support layer consists of finger-like structure, finger-like channel, macrovoids and spongy structure. � 2016, Malaysian Society of Analytical Sciences. All rights reserved.