In addition to being a serious threat to human health and the natural environment, the rising volume of oily wastewater and oil spills also causes resource depletion. Thus, there is a lot of interest in effective oil-water (O/W) separation. Scientists have looked at and suggested a variety of creative separation techniques in an attempt to address this issue. Unfortunately, the majority of these techniques have technical issues with low separation efficiency and significant energy usage. It is crucial to develop an effective oil-water separation membrane in order to address this issue. Because of their large surface area, low density, high porosity, controllable wettability, and variable pore size, have a lot of potential in this sector. This paper first categorizes several different MOF-based membranes and describe in detail their different synthesis methods, including solvent thermal method, ultrasonic method, microwave method, etc. Then, the physicochemical properties of MOF-based films are summarized in detail. The mechanism by which MOF-based films can separate oil-water mixtures is also explained. Finally, the modification of stainless steel mesh, sponge, aerogel and filtration membranes by MOF-based films, respectively, is emphasized and their applications in O/W separation are discussed.