Separation of soluble oil was investigated during filtration of cutting oil emulsion using various commercial ultrafiltration membranes. The surface properties of membranes used were hydrophilic hydrophobic and modified surfaces by various surfactant pretreatments. Conditions varied include stirring speed transmeembrane pressure membrane type and surfactant type for pretreatment. The results give some indication of mechanisms occurring at the membrane surface. Surfactant pretreatments significantly improved water flux and UF flux of hydrophilic regenerated cellulose(up to 2.4x for YM100) and hydrophobic polysulfone (up to 2.2x for PTHK) membranes depending on surfactant type and operating conditions. The UF flux enhancement was attributed to membrane swelling and reduction of interfacial surface tension between oil droplets and membrane surface. unexpectedly the hydrophilic membranes revealed greater flux enhancement than the hydrophobic membranes. The results also showed a greater improvement in UF flux at lower operating pressure.