This study investigated the fouling behavior of $Al_2O_3$ colloids on polyethylene microfiltration membrane. To examine the effect of operation variation on fouling, operating pressure was increased from 0.49 to 1.96 bar along with time elapses and then was reduced to 0.49 bar reversely. A hysteresis behavior was observed in the membrane permeate flux over pressure, revealing different fluxes at the same pressure according to the pressure control type, increasing and decreasing. Permeate resistance and its rate of increase was higher in the decreasing pressure cycle than in the increasing pressure cycle. At the initial period of filtration, fouling mechanism for the both cycles was governed by the cake filtration. The degree of fouling was higher in the decreasing pressure cycle compared with in the increasing pressure cycle.