Abstract: Polymer membranes are cheap and easy in fabrication, and show a high permeability and selectivity, thus play pivotal roles in gas separation as well as water purification. However, polymer membranes typically exhibit the trade-off relation between permeability and selectivity; i.e. when the permeability is high, the selectivity is low and vice versa. Facilitated transport has been considered one of the solutions to address this issue. Over the last decades, facilitated transport concept had played an important role in preparing the membranes and providing ideal and various models for the transport. Understanding the nature of carrier, the mobility of matrix and the physico-chemical properties of polymer composites are crucial for facilitated transport. Depending on the mobility of carrier, facilitated transport membrane is classified into three; mobile carrier membrane, semi-mobile carrier membrane, fixed-site carrier membrane. Also, there are four types of reversible reaction between the carrier and the specific target; proton transfer reaction, nucleophilic addition reaction, p-complexation reaction and electrochemical reaction. The facilitated transport membranes have been applied in the separation of CO2, O2 and olefin (propylene or ethylene). In this review, major challenges surrounding facilitated transport membranes and the strategies to tackle these challenges are given in detail.