Abstract: China has made great efforts to control surface water pollution, but there are still some surface waters pollution problems, such as the water-scarce areas in central and western China. Due to the slow ecological recovery of rivers in water-scarce areas, photocatalytic membrane can assist in the comprehensive improvement of rivers in such areas to realize in-situ river regulation. The visible light active photocatalytic membranes (N/C-TiO₂) were prepared by solution casting approach and heating treatment in vacuum. The morphology of the membrane was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the photocatalytic performance of the membrane in water treatment was assessed. The results showed that a lot of TiO₂ aggregated on the surface of the membrane material, showing irregular shapes. TiO₂ nanoparticles successfully grew on the surface of matrix through bridging, providing a more stable connection between the catalyst and the membrane material. The effect of heat treatment temperature on photocatalytic performance of N/C-TiO₂ film showed that the N/C-TiO₂ membrane treated at 140℃ (140-N/C-TiO₂ membrane) exhibited better visible light-driven photocatalytic activity than the membrane sintered at 120℃ (120-N/C-TiO₂ membrane). The 140-N/C-TiO₂ membrane exhibited outstanding treatment level of COD_Cr with up to 100% under sunlight. The application of membrane in the treatment of Jialu river water under natural light showed that N/C-TiO₂ membrane was better than P25 TiO₂ membrane in reducing COD_Cr, NH₃-N and TP concentrations. Meanwhile, TiO₂ membrane improved the biochemical characteristics of water. The average daily removal rate of COD_Cr and BOD₅ by N/C-TiO₂ film could reach 50.0% and 31.9%, respectively, and the ratio of COD_Cr to BOD₅(B/C) increased from 0.246 to 0.358. The membrane recycling test showed that the degradation rate of pollutants with N/C-TiO₂ membrane increased with the increase of light intensity. After multiple cycles, the degradation efficiency tended to be stable and the degradation efficiency decreased by 9.5%, showing the high reusability of the membrane. This research shows that N/C-TiO₂ membrane photocatalytic technology can be used as an excellent in-situ technology for surface water treatment to assist river management in water shortage areas and improve surface water quality, which has great potential for practical application.