The polymeric materials have presented a great development in adsorption processes for the treatment of polluted waters. The aim of the current review is to present the recent developments in this field of study by examining research of systems like functional water-soluble polymers and water-soluble polymer-metal complexes coupled to ultrafiltration membranes for decontamination processes in liquid-liquid phase. Noticing that a water-soluble polymer can be turned into insoluble compounds by setting a crosslinking point, connecting the polymer chains leading to polymer resins suitable for solid-liquid extraction processes. Moreover, these crosslinked polymers can be used to develop more complex systems such as (nano)composite and hybrid adsorbents, combining the polymers with inorganic moieties such as metal oxides. This combination results in novel materials that overcome some drawbacks of each separated components and enhance the sorption performance. In addition, new trends in hybrid methods combining of water-soluble polymers, membranes, and electrocatalysis/photocatalysis to remove inorganic pollutants have been discussed in this review.

The current problem of contamination caused by colored industrial effluents has led to the development of different techniques to remove these species from water. One of them, polymer-enhanced ultrafiltration (PEUF), has been systematically studied in this mini review, in which research works from 1971 to date were found and analyzed. Dye retention rates of up to 99% were obtained in several cases. In addition, a brief discussion of different parameters, such as pH, interfering salts, type of polymer, dye concentration, and membrane type, and their influence in dye removal is presented. It was concluded from the above that these factors can be adapted depending on the pollutant to be remediated, in order to optimize the process. Finally, theoretical approaches have been used to understand the intermolecular interactions, and development of the studied technique. In this revision, it is possible to observe that molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulations, density functional theory calculations, and hybrid neural-genetic algorithms based on an evolutionary approach are the most usual approximations used for this purpose. Herein, there is a detailed discussion about what was carried out in order to contribute to the research development of this important science field.